Assignment Topsheet

Your Name: Sulaiman Mahmood Al Nadabi

Unit Title: Leadership Project
Unit coordinators name: Professor John Grisby

Student ID: 1513429

Unit Code SHR011-6
Submission due date: 06/01/2016

Assignment Title: Leading People

Signature: Sulaiman Al Nadabi

Date 06/01/2016

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LEADING PEOPLE

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
I. Describing the background of the Value System Theory of Dr. Clare Grave..............................3
II. Evaluating the different leadership styles and behaviors in the contexts of culture, geographic
perspectives and historic perspectives.............................................................................................5
III. Analyzing the particular leadership issues with the help of relevant theories...........................8
IV. Personal view regarding the definition of leadership...............................................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
Reference List and Bibliography:..................................................................................................13

Introduction
In this assignment, the main focus is made on the leadership styles applied by the business
organizations in present world of business. In order to make the study more fruitful, one of the
famous organizations that are Apple is chosen. During this assignment, the discussion is started
by describing the Value System Theory of Dr. Clare Grave. Gradually, the discussion covers the
different styles of leadership in cultural, geographic and historic perspectives. After that, the
current issues faced by the organization in the leadership are analyzed with the help of the
different leadership theories. At last, a conclusion is drawn.

I. Describing the background of the Value System Theory of Dr. Clare Grave
In the decade of seventies, the psychology professor Dr. Clare Grave developed the Value
System Theory that helps to understand the behaviour of human being. According to Dr. Clare
Grave, only the human needs are not enough to understand the behaviour of human being. In
order to understand the behaviour of human being, it is very important to understand the
biological, psychological and cultural aspects of human being in a better way1. Due to this, Dr.
Clare Grave developed the Value System Theory that includes the eight value systems, those
played a great role in the evolutionary period of human being. These eight value systems are as
under:
Beige drive: This particular drive denotes the survival attitude of a person. If a person belongs
from this particular drive, then that person always tries to survive in any ways.
Purple drive: This drive denotes the security and safety of a human being. This means, when an
individual is in the purple drive, he or she finds the safety and security at first2.

Elza S. Maalouf, (2014). Emerge: The Rise of Functional Democracy and the Future of the Middle East,
SelectBooks Inc.
2

Dawlabani, S. E. (2013). MEMEnomics: The Next Generation Economic System, Select Books.

Red drive: This particular drive denotes the need of respect of a human being. This means when
a person is in red drive, it is expected that the person wants respects from others and in order to
get that, the person also gives respects to the other persons.
Blue drive: Another drive is the blue drive, which indicates the security and order giving needs
of an individual. This means, when a person is in the blue drive, the first thing that he or she
wants is giving order to other persons and finding security for him or herself. At this drive, the
person is reliable, disciplined, controlled and dutiful.
Orange drive: The next drive is the orange drive and this drive denotes the competition and
winning behavior of a human being. This indicates that when a person is in orange drive, the
person loves to compete with other and in that competition the person always wants to win3.
Green drive: Another drive is the green drive that denotes the ideals and loyalty of a human
being. If a person is in green drive, then the person always give value to the relationships with
the other people and keeps a loyal relationship.
Yellow drive: This particular drive in the Value System Theory denotes the learning and
independence of an individual. The person belongs to this drive is creative and wants to be
independent through learning the things and analyzing the matters.
Turquoise drive: This particular drive denotes the big picture of a person. That means the
person belongs from this drive wants to become a well known person in the society.
Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be said that the Value System Theory of Dr. Clare
Grave gives a wider picture of the behavior of a human being. With the help of this particular
theory, in the present scenario, the business organizations are also getting help. The Value
System Theory has helped in developing and improving the new leadership styles of the
organizations4. Presently, in maximum sectors like, finance, sport, electronics and other sectors
the use of this particular theory is increasing. For example, presently, most of the well known
business organizations are emphasizing on friendly leadership where domination is less and
3

Beck, D. (2005). Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership and Change, Wiley-Blackwell

Adair, J. (2010). Strategic Leadership: How to Think and Plan Strategically and Provide Direction, 3rd ed.
London: Kogan Page

providing full respects, equality, scope for independence and creative thinking are encouraged. If
the leadership style of one of the most well known bank in Oman that is Bank Dhofar is
considered, then it can be seen that the bank is presently trying to motivate the employees to
bring more creative thinking for its products and it is done only by emphasizing on the yellow
drive of Value System Theory.
In case of Apple, the company is always trying to bring some more innovative products. In order
to bring innovation, the motivation and coordination of the employees are very essential. This
can only be done through effective leadership5. In many researches it has been identified that
Apple always tries to keep its employees happy and never use to dominate its employees so that
they can give their best performance. If the employees give the best performance, then only the
company can be successful. In this case the Value System Theory is the one that helps to
understand the psychology and behavior or the employees in a better manner.

II. Evaluating the different leadership styles and behaviors in the contexts of culture,
geographic perspectives and historic perspectives
In the previous section it has been identified that in the Value System Theory of Dr. Clare Grave,
there are total eight Values. On the other side, in case of leadership style, there are different
styles for leadership depending on the cultural, geographical and historical demand of the
organizations6. In case of Apple, the company is operating its business in different places of this
globe. The origin of the company is from US. Therefore, it is obvious that the culture of the
organization is mostly the US or Western culture. In this type of culture, the people are less
conservative more friendly and always try to bring something new. In this particular
organization, the management or the higher authority mainly emphasizes on the yellow drive
among all other drives in the Value System Theory. In case of leadership style, the organization is
mostly dependent on the participative leadership style. However, sometimes, it also emphasizes
on the transformational leadership style also.

Kingdom, A. (2015). Apple (United Kingdom). [online] Apple. Available at: http://www.apple.com/uk/ [Accessed
11 Dec. 2015].
6

Allen, D. (2010). Leadership and Teamwork Essays. 6th ed. London: McGraw-Hill Education.

In the words of different scholars by emphasizing on the yellow drive of the Value System, the
company mainly wants to bring more innovation in its products and services. The yellow drive
helps to bring creativity in the minds of the employees 7. However, in many studies it has been
opined that the company may also get tremendous success if it could emphasize on the orange
drive, which helps to bring a competitive mindset in the employees of the organization.
According to many authors or researchers yellow drive helps to build and enhance the core
competencies in a business organization. If a company influences the yellow drive of the human
behavior, then it actually influences the unique quality of the people 8. This unique quality of the
people helps the organization to think in different way. In case of Apple, the yellow drive was so
powerful in the owner Steve Jobs, which helped him to make the company as one of the largest
mobile company in the international market. This is continuing in the organization in these
present days also.
On the other side, the participative leadership style helps the management of the company to
encourage the employees in taking part in the business decision of the company 9. However, as
the participative leadership style is followed, the management has the full control over the
employees. This style of leadership helps the members of the company to take part in the
decision-making process, which actually brings the mindset in the employees that they are also
valuable for the company. At the same time, the employees feel respect within the organization.
This ultimately motivates the employees of Apple to work more effectively and produce their
best outputs10.
However, as the organization has its business in different countries of this world, it sometimes
follows the transformational leadership style also. This particular leadership style helps the
employees of Apple to get motivated towards any kind of positive change 11. This leadership style
7

Fairholm, M. R. (2010). Different perspectives on the practice of leadership, Public Administration Review,
64(5), pp.577-590.
8

Brooks, I. (2010). Organizational behaviour. Individuals, group and organization, London: Pearson education

Day, D. V., Harrison, M. M. and Halpin, S. M. (2012). An Integrative Approach to Leader Development, 3rd ed.
New York: Free Press.
10

Kingdom, A. (2015). Apple (United Kingdom). [online] Apple. Available at: http://www.apple.com/uk/ [Accessed
11 Dec. 2015].
11

Dionne, S. D., Yammarino, F. J., Atwater, L. E. and Spangler, W. D. (2011). Transformational leadership and
team performance, Journal of Organizational Change Management, 17(1), pp.177-193.

also helps Apple to adopt different working culture in different countries. For example, the
working culture of Apple in India is different from US or China. In India, the managers of Apple
provide more value to the society or families of the employees, which is not same in case of
Apple in US. This indicates that the transformational leadership style helps the leaders of the
organization to motivate their employees as per the geographic perspectives.
At present, the leadership structure of the company that is Apple is as under:
Top Level Management /
Board of Directors

Operational Head

Marketing Head

Finance Head

Employees under

Employees under

Employees under

operation

marketing

finance Department

department

department

Figure: Leadership Structure

(Source: 12)
In the above diagram, it can be seen that the leadership structure of Apple includes a systematic
way. The leadership flows from the top to bottom. In the top most position of the leadership there
is the top management or the board of directors. Then the leadership flows down to the different
departmental heads and from those departmental heads, the leadership flows down to the

12

Kingdom, A. (2015). Apple (United Kingdom). [online] Apple. Available at: http://www.apple.com/uk/ [Accessed
11 Dec. 2015].

employees of different departments. These leaderships follow the participative style of leadership
and the yellow drive of the value system13.
In the very beginning of the business of Apple there was authoritarian or the autocratic
leadership style present. However, this leadership style was creating problem in the business
operations of the company because the business culture in US needs the leadership style that
allows employees participation along with the management. Due to this, the top management of
the company decided to apply the delegative leadership style but in this leadership style, the
employees started to misuse their power to take decision. The rate of conflicts between the
employees started to rise and the misunderstanding was creating major trouble for the company.
Therefore, after facing lots of problems from these two leadership styles, the management of the
company decided to apply the participative leadership style, which is still present in the
organization14. After adopting the participative leadership style, several changes have been taken
place in the regional and global environment of the company. The workflow of the company
became more systematic and wastage of the company has been reduced. At the same time, the
level of conflicts between the employees has been decreased and a friendly atmosphere has
come. The employees of the organization have adopted these changes through proper training
and development program. Several seminars were arranged by the top management and
counseling programs were arranged to understand the needs of the employees in a better way15.

III. Analyzing the particular leadership issues with the help of relevant theories
In the present days scenario, the business organizations are facing several issues or challenges at
the time of leading their people or the employees. The main issues that the organizations are
facing are as under:

13

Kingdom, A. (2015). Apple (United Kingdom). [online] Apple. Available at: http://www.apple.com/uk/ [Accessed
11 Dec. 2015].
14

9levels.de, (2015). 9 Levels institute for value systems. [online] Available at: http://www.9levels.de/ [Accessed 14
Dec. 2015].
15

Essedunet.nsd.uib.no, (2015). European Social Survey Education Net - ESS EduNet. [online] Available at:
http://essedunet.nsd.uib.no/ [Accessed 11 Dec. 2015].

The leaders of the organizations are becoming failure to identify the reasons behind the

conflicts between the employees16

The employees are becoming more aggressive17
The team jelling is decreasing day-by-day, which is affecting the team performance and
coordination between the employees of the organizations18

However, the issues or the challenges can be easily identified with the help of the different
theories of leadership. According to the Trait Theory of leadership, the leadership is the traits as
well as the qualities that help to lead or direct the other people. These traits are empathy,
assertiveness, likability, integrity and better decision-making skills 19. However, presently, the
business organizations are lacking the traits like integrity and empathy. The people of the
organizations are becoming more competitive and jealous of each other which are creating
conflicts between them and they maximum times feel that the leaders are trying to dominate
them. This type of feeling throws a big challenge to the proper leadership in the organizations.
At the same time, the Behavioral Theory of leadership helps to understand the behavior of the
leaders20. This particular theory suggests that there are mainly three types of behavior those can
be noticed in the leaders of any organization and those behaviors are autocratic behavior,
democratic behavior and delegative behavior 21. In the above, it has been mentioned that
presently, the employees of the organizations think that they are being dominated by the leaders,
16

Algera, P. M., and Lips-Wiersma, M. (2012). Radical Authentic Leadership: Co-creating the
conditions under which all members of the organization can be authentic, The Leadership Quarterly, 23(1),
pp.118131
17

Bel, R. (2010), Leadership and Innovation: Learning from the best, Global Business & Organisational
Excellence, 29(2), pp.47-60
18

Avolio, B. J., Walumbwa, F. O. and Weber, T. J., (2010). Leadership: Current theories, research and future
directions, Annual Review of Psychology, 7(4), pp. 421-449.
19

Boyatzis, R. E., Stubbs, E. C., and Taylor, S. N. (2011). Learning Cognitive and Emotional Intelligence
Competencies Through Graduate Management Education, Academy of Management Learning & Education, 1(2),
150162.
20

De Hoogh, A. H. B., and Den Hartog, D. N. (2010). Ethical and despotic leadership, relationships with leaders
social responsibility, top management team effectiveness and subordinates' optimism: A multi-method study, The
Leadership Quarterly, 19(3), pp.297311
21

Augier, M. and Teece, D. (2011). Reflections on (Schumpeterian) leadership: a report on a seminar on leadership
and management education, California Management Review, 47(2), pp. 126-127

10

which indicates that the leaders are adapting the autocratic behavior. This behavior includes
dominating nature where team involvement is not necessary for taking any decision.
In case of the organization like Apple, the management mainly faces four leadership issues or
challenges and those are as under:

Taking proper decision for motivating the employees in order to compete in the

international as well as the regional market

Influencing the people or the employees those belong from the weak economy countries

like Bangladesh, Pakistan etc in proper way to give their best efforts
Creating co-ordination between the different cultures of the employees belong from

different countries
Providing proper security to the employees of foreign countries in the job place

In order to understand the leadership issues in a better manner, the Value System Theory can be
used22. According to the value system theory, the orange drive within a human being helps to
grow the competitive attitude. Therefore, with the help of this particular theory, it can be said that
the orange drive is missing in the minds of the employees of Apple. On the other side, the purple
drive of the value system theory helps to grow the attitude within the employees or people that
provides them security and safety23. Therefore, as the employees of Apple in the down economic
countries are lacking behind in giving their best performance and feel insecurity in their job
place, it can be said that the purple drive is missing within the employees. At the same time, with
the help of the value system theory, it can also be said that the green drive is also missing within
the employees of Apple because there is a lack of co-ordination within the employees of different
culture24.

22

Eli, M., ener, ., Aksoy, S., and Alpkan, L. (2012). The Impact of Ethical Leadership and Leadership
Effectiveness on Employees Turnover Intention: The Mediating Role of Work Related Stress, Procedia - Social
and Behavioral Sciences, 58(1), pp.289297
23

Kim, W. G., & Brymer, R. A. (2011). The effects of ethical leadership on manager job satisfaction, commitment,
behavioral outcomes, and firm performance, International Journal of Hospitality Management, 30(4), pp.1020
1026.
24

Hollander, J., Hollander, J., Leal, J., Hollander, J. and Hollander, J. (2015). NLP Meta Programs Measurement
MindSonar. [online] Mindsonar.info. Available at: http://www.mindsonar.info/ [Accessed 14 Dec. 2015].

11

As the business environment in the international as well as in the regional market is changing
day-by-day, the company that is Apple is facing more leadership problems. Due to the increased
rate of competition, the management of the company is facing the challenge to change the way of
motivating the employees as per the changing mode of competition. At the same time, due to the
economic ups and downs after the global economic crisis in 2008, the management of Apple is
facing problem in giving proper job security to their employees. Therefore, in this situation it is
very important for Apple as well as the other organizations to understand the needs of the
employees in a better way so that proper leadership style can be adapted.

IV. Personal view regarding the definition of leadership

After studying the details about the leadership styles and different leadership theories along with
the value system theory of Dr. Clare Grave, I have understood that leadership is nothing but
motivating the people in the right direction by adapting the right way. There is no single
definition available regarding leadership. However, from the different theories of leadership, it
can be said that leadership is the group of traits that help to coordinate the people by
understanding their behaviors.
As per the value system theory developed by Dr. Clare Grave, there are eight different drives or
values that help to generate different attitudes within the human characters and the knowledge
regarding these eight values is very important to understand the behaviors of the people or the
employees of the organizations and lead them in a proper manner. In this study, I have identified
that there are different approaches or styles of leadership available to the leaders of different
organizations and those are autocratic, democratic and delegative. With the help of the value
system theory, the leaders can understood in which style of leadership which drive is essential
and when those must be applied. During this study, I have identified that there are different
challenges that the organizations are facing in this present business scenario and these challenges
can be understood and solved with the help of different theories of leadership along with the
value system theory.
In this study, I have understood that the idea or the definition of leadership in the business
organizations has been changed from the past to the present scenario. I have mainly focused on
the leadership style of Apple and there I have identified that in past, he leadership style of Apple
12

was mainly the autocratic style but due to changing business environment and the needs of the
employees, the company has changed its leadership style from autocratic to participative.
Therefore, it can be said that there is no single or universal definition of leadership. I can be
changed in time to time basis as per the changing demand of the situation. At the same time,
change in the leadership style is also important to solve the issues or challenges in the leadership
within an organization.

Conclusion
In this particular study, it has been identified that Value System Theory is very much effective in
understanding the behavior or attitude of different people or the employees of the organizations.
There are mainly three types of leadership styles are available and those are Autocratic,
Participative and Delegative. In the organization that is in Apple the autocratic leadership was
present in the past but due to the changing atmosphere, the company has adapted the
participative style of leadership. However, the company is presently facing different challenges
in its leadership.

13

Reference List and Bibliography:

Books
Adair, J. (2010). Strategic Leadership: How to Think and Plan Strategically and Provide
Direction, 3rd ed. London: Kogan Page
Allen, D. (2010). Leadership and Teamwork Essays. 6th ed. London: McGraw-Hill Education.
Beck, D. (2005). Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership and Change, Wiley-Blackwell
Brooks, I. (2010). Organizational behaviour. Individuals, group and organization, London:
Pearson education
Dawlabani, S. E. (2013). MEMEnomics: The Next Generation Economic System, Select Books.
Day, D. V., Harrison, M. M. and Halpin, S. M. (2012). An Integrative Approach to Leader
Development, 3rd ed. New York: Free Press.
Elza S. Maalouf, (2014). Emerge: The Rise of Functional Democracy and the Future of the
Middle East, SelectBooks Inc.
Journals
Algera, P. M., and Lips-Wiersma, M. (2012). Radical Authentic Leadership: Co-creating the
Augier, M. and Teece, D. (2011). Reflections on (Schumpeterian) leadership: a report on a
seminar on leadership and management education, California Management Review, 47(2), pp.
126-127
Avolio, B. J., Walumbwa, F. O. and Weber, T. J., (2010). Leadership: Current theories, research
and future directions, Annual Review of Psychology, 7(4), pp. 421-449.
Bel, R. (2010), Leadership and Innovation: Learning from the best, Global Business &
Organisational Excellence, 29(2), pp.47-60

14

Boyatzis, R. E., Stubbs, E. C., and Taylor, S. N. (2011). Learning Cognitive and Emotional
Intelligence

Competencies

Through Graduate

Management

Education,

Academy

of

Management Learning & Education, 1(2), 150162.

conditions under which all members of the organization can be authentic, The Leadership
Quarterly, 23(1), pp.118131
De Hoogh, A. H. B., and Den Hartog, D. N. (2010). Ethical and despotic leadership,
relationships with leaders social responsibility, top management team effectiveness and
subordinates' optimism: A multi-method study, The Leadership Quarterly, 19(3), pp.297311
Dionne, S. D., Yammarino, F. J., Atwater, L. E. and Spangler, W. D. (2011). Transformational
leadership and team performance, Journal of Organizational Change Management, 17(1),
pp.177-193.
Eli, M., ener, ., Aksoy, S., and Alpkan, L. (2012). The Impact of Ethical Leadership and
Leadership Effectiveness on Employees Turnover Intention: The Mediating Role of Work
Related Stress, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 58(1), pp.289297
Fairholm, M. R. (2010). Different perspectives on the practice of leadership, Public
Administration Review, 64(5), pp.577-590.
Fairholm, M. R. (2011). A new sciences outline for leadership development, Leadership and
Organizational Development Journal, 25(4), pp.369-383.
Gilpin-Jackson, Y. and Bushe, G. R. (2010). Leadership development training transfer: A case
study of post-training determinants, Journal of Management Development 26(10), pp.980-1004.
Gilpin-Jackson, Y. and Bushe, G. R. (2010). Leadership development training transfer: A case
study of post-training determinants, Journal of Management Development 26(10), pp.980-1004.
Kim, W. G., & Brymer, R. A. (2011). The effects of ethical leadership on manager job
satisfaction, commitment, behavioral outcomes, and firm performance, International Journal of
Hospitality Management, 30(4), pp.10201026.
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15

9levels.de,

(2015).

Levels

institute

for

value

systems.

[online]

Available

at:

http://www.9levels.de/ [Accessed 14 Dec. 2015].

Essedunet.nsd.uib.no, (2015). European Social Survey Education Net - ESS EduNet. [online]
Available at: http://essedunet.nsd.uib.no/ [Accessed 11 Dec. 2015].
Hollander, J., Hollander, J., Leal, J., Hollander, J. and Hollander, J. (2015). NLP Meta Programs
Measurement MindSonar. [online] Mindsonar.info. Available at: http://www.mindsonar.info/
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A.

(2015).

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(United

Kingdom).

[online]

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16