Leadership and Motivation
Marissa Ann Mayer is the current Chief Executive Officer of Yahoo. Merissa has been ranked as one of the most powerful businesspersons in the United States. She has been able to transform this firm positively over the past year and few months that she has been at its helm. According to Mrityunjay (71), for a person in a leadership position to be able to make an organization succeed, such a leader must possess some form of power that will make followers respect him or her and follow the guidelines given by the leader. Marissa’s power comes from several sources. By the virtue of being the chief executive of Yahoo, Merissa has legitimate power over other employees. She has the power to determine how various activities are supposed to be carried out within the firm. This position also gives her reward power over employees. She has the power to determine who gets to what positions within the firm. This means that she can reward an employee she feels has performed diligently within this firm.
Her position as the chief executive also gives her coercive power over employees. Although she may not use this form of influence quite often, she can evoke it when she feels that it is very necessary. For instance, there may be cases where she may be forced to demote, transfer, or even dismiss an employee based on underperformance or any other trait that is considered unnecessary within the firm. Merissa is one of the best software engineers who have specialized in internet marketing. This gives her expertise power over other employees. She is expected to direct other engineers on the kind of products that should be developed for this firm. According to the management strategies that she has employed over the past year, it is apparent that she has made use of all the above-identified sources of authority.
These sources of influence are effective in different instances. According to Mrityunjay (56), Yahoo has been losing its market share at a very alarming rate. When Merissa joined this firm, there was a dire need for policies and strategies that would help Yahoo become profitable once again. She had to employ influences that would make the employees yield the needed output. In her statements, Merissa observed that employees are the most important assets that can help an organization achieve the highest possible success in its operations. This means that she had to employ leadership strategies that would not only make the current employees be satisfied to be in the firm, but also attract other employees to the firm. The strategies had to make employees feel that they need to do more than their current capacities. This means that she had to employ transformational leadership strategies. Transformational leadership is always very important in motivating employees and making them feel that they are yet to achieve their full potential. This makes them work very hard as they seek to achieve more success in their fields.
To this extent, expert power has been appropriate. The engineers need her expertise to get direction on how they can develop products that meet customer expectations. Information power has also been very appropriate for this leader in steering this firm to success. Various stakeholders in this firm need information. The shareholders of this firm need information about the progress of the firm and the possible future developments. This information must come from the highest office, which is held by Merissa. She has succeeded in this, a fact that has seen the value of Yahoo stocks increase in the market. The employees need information on the activities that can make their roles be of greater importance to this firm. The management team needs information on how they can direct other employees to achieve optimum output in their fields. Merissa is at the center of all this, and the far she has come, it is true that she has proven that the strategies are effective.
The strategies employed by this leader are very appropriate. According to Griffin (78), in the currently dynamic society where firms are faced with numerous challenges in their working environment, there is a need to employ leadership strategies that would help ensure that employees remain motivated. It is through motivated employees that a firm can gain a competitive advantage over its competitors. Transformational leadership has been very effective in motivating employees and influencing them to act in a given desirable manner. This has proven to be very effective in ensuring that this firm remains profitable in the market. Given the current performance of Yahoo, it is clear that Merissa has achieved what was expected of her at the helm of this firm. She has kept the employees constantly motivated. The stock price of the firm is on the rise, and the stakeholders are convinced that this firm is on the right track.
Works Cited
Griffin, Ricky. Fundamentals of Management. New Jersey: Southwestern Cengage Learning, 2013. Print.
Mrityunjay, Srivastava. Transformational Leadership. New Delhi: Macmillan India, 2003. Print.