Understanding Larry Ellison: A Study of OB Perspective - Essay Sample

Introduction

The appropriate way to understand and study Organizational Behaviour (OB) is through using the knowledge gained in practice. The primary fundamental method that will be followed entails the study of a selected individual based on OB perspective. The individual that will be understood based on his leadership and personality is Larry Ellison who is an American businessperson known as the co-founder and CEO of Oracle Corporation. The personality and leadership trait of Ellison can be viewed through his success in the tech industry.

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The personality of Ellison is chosen for analysis as it is essential to comprehend his behavior and characteristic that has made him be a successful leader. According to Mendleson (2011), Ellison can be described as an individual that is self-aware of his trait that allows him to thrive in an environment that is increasingly ruthless. A significant personality of Ellison is risk-taking based on his optimism that will enable him to take actions that are considered unwise. Also, Ellison has an internal locus of control that is extremely strong. A business leader that has a strong sense of self-awareness will have the ability to recognize their own emotions when experienced (Hiriyappa, 2009). Thus, such a personality trait ensures understanding feelings of self and others in a work environment.

Hiriyappa (2009) highlights on the authoritative leadership in which individuals decides by themselves and quickly. According to Mendleson (2011), is known to have a reputation of being provocative and he likes it as he considered it to be intimidating. Therefore, based on Ellison he can be considered to be an eminent situational leader that can adjust his leadership based on the current situation. Ellison is recognized mostly for depending on his team to making decisions that are crucial to the business. Thus, he shows the leadership trait of listening that allows him to act and remove any objections to ensure there are no excuses made in event of failure.

Ellison's Behavior

Larry Ellison's behavior can be considered as being task-oriented. Larry expresses practice of initiating structure as he always expects best talent and productivity to compete with other firms in the technology sector. According to Bauer and Erdogan (2012), task-oriented leadership places more emphasis on the tasks required to be achieved. Thus, Larry places more emphasis on the structure, schedules, and plans that need to be accomplished. His charismatic behavior offers him the ability to draw it to others, which ensures he focuses on the management process to ensure efficient controlling, organizing and planning of activities in the organization.

Based on his behavior, Ellison can be considered to be a narcissist individual who is independent and does not get impressed quickly. He is an innovator that is driven to gain power in the business. Therefore, his behavior allows him in making a decision that requires urgency and needs to be efficient to ensure the specific task is carried out in a particular manner. According to Hiriyappa (2009), a leader that shows authoritarian behavior will ensure that no projects are sidelined and all team members are able to concentrate on given tasks. Ellison is described an authority compliant leader who always considered the appropriate way to be effective is being directive towards the employees to ensure they accomplish the set objectives in the organization.

Ellison Leadership Style

The success of an organization and ensuring innovation is attained mostly depending on the CEO notion on leadership. A good leader main focus is to influence people to follow the direction set such as perspective, goals, and attitude towards work. Ellison as the CEO of Oracle was tied up with a set of standard that emphasized on proficiency in decision-making. Thus, in situation that requires problem-solving Larry usually considers the analytical aspect to manage the issues by ensuring the ability to handle stress and pressure. According to Hiriyappa (2009), providing ability to manage power and influence offers the leader a proper control that can be exercised to ensure building trust and faith from the subordinate members. As highlighted by Mendleson (2011), Larry used to spend much of his time in running Oracle and was inclined in joining yacht racing. Thus, Larry portrayed a satisfactory job attitude as he was committed to organizational satisfaction and commitment.

As the co-founder of Oracle, Larry is driven by a leadership attitude of wanting to have total control over operations that makes him a bureaucratic leader that works based on the set guideline. The success of the company can be attributed to his vast great confidence in his self and working with a trusted and bright-staff that are committed to attaining the company objectives. Another leadership style that was portrayed by Larry was being an attentive listener despite having the reputation of being large that life. Decisions made under Larry leadership were rallied behind several strategies from different departments. The ability to listen to subordinate employees assist in overcoming conflict and gaining trust of employees in the organization (Hiriyappa, 2009).

The leadership style of Ellison was mainly driven by the pursuit of success and fear of failure. In most instance, he was always motivating and offering guidance to junior managers in the organization to improve their efficiency and productivity, which makes him a charismatic leader. According to Hiriyappa (2009), it is perceived that leadership ought to be reciprocal process that has social impact in which employees influence each other to attain organizational goals. The leadership style that is adopted by a leader in the organization is crucial to improve the quality of employees performance in conducting daily operations. Therefore, Larry style of leadership and attitude towards work played an important role to ensure enhance interest and commitment of the employees in the organization.

The success achieved at Oracle can be traced to different departments working together to ensure innovation and productivity is achieved. Under the leadership of Larry, he was the one to make the final decision, but various team members were involved in the process of decision-making. As a participative leader, Larry encouraged more creativity and motivated the team members to engage with one another in projects (Mendleson, 2011). Thus, this style of leadership ensured all the employees had high job satisfaction, and they were more productive since they all played a significant part in decision making. Subsequently, it ensured that all individuals working under his leadership were able to develop skills that will take Oracle to the next step in technology sector. Such an approach is suitable in a department that is working as a team as it is essential to improve quality in efficiency or productivity.

References

Bauer, T. N., & Erdogan, B. (2012). Organizational socialization outcomes: Now and into the future. The Oxford handbook of organizational socialization, 97-112.

Hiriyappa, B. (2009). Organizational behavior. New Delhi: New Age International.

Mendleson, R. (2011). Larry Ellison: Why it pays to be a jerk. Canadian Business. Retrieved from: https://www.canadianbusiness.com/business-strategy/larry-ellison-why-it-pays-to-be-a-jerk/