1. QIBT
1001IBA
Management Concepts
Essay title: SONY: Leadership and changing environments at Sony
Class 54
Tutor: Dr Evelyn Anderson
Student name: Alexander Daniel Gonzalez
Student Number: GONAD1403
Due date: 20th
August 2015
Total words: 700 (+ - 10%)
2. i
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER TITLE
PAGE
Table of contents……………………………………….…………………………………………………………..i
1.0 Introduction………………………………………………………………………..……………………………1
2.0 Issue identification…..……………………………………………………………………………………….1
3.0 Critical Discussion..………………………………………………………………………………………..1-2
4.0 Conclusion………….…………………………………………………………………………………………….2
5.0 Appendix…………………………..………………………………………………………………………………3
5.1 Swot Analysis ………………………………………………………………………………………………3
5.2 Hersey-Blanchard situational leadership model ………………………………………………………4
6.0 References …..…………………………………………………………………………………………………..5
3. 1
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Sony was one of the greatest company of electronic products before the 2000s. With great
changes in technology developed by competitors, Sony has been relegated to a secondary
place in the market. This report explains how a bad choice in a leader of the company can
arise in problems in a short time. Additionally, it explains why a good leader must have good
knowledge in his field as well as good communication with employees. Finally, it will be said
how Hersey-Blanchard situational leadership model fits in Sony, and also the main reasons
why Stringer, CEO during some years, did not meet these requirements.
2.0 ISSUE IDENTIFICATION
Changes in Sony’s leadership approach had to happen, because its main competitors were
gaining much space in the competition. The new leader would have the responsibility to
become this company, which had been the market leader during the 90s, and return it to its
place at the top of the market. Howard Springer, with journalism and occidental
backgrounds was chosen (Barber, 2012). This could be a big challenge, because Sony was
trying to fit different fields and cultures to lead the company. As cited by Schermerhorn,
Davidson, Poole, Simon and Wood (2014), Howard tried to improve the situation, sidelined
old no-value managers, and although sales firstly rose, later the economy of the company
went down again. Apparently, Howard put his effort in achieving results quickly, without
taking into account old engineers of the company, who had different ideas to him. Finally,
Howard had no knowledge in software, and did not speak Japanese, so he could only trust
on a reduced group of secretaries (Barber, 2012). It meant that Stringer had a great
disadvantage, because a great leader should have excellent communication with senior
managers in the company, but Stringer did not meet the requirements for achieving that.
Therefore, at the slightest setback the company could be in big trouble.
3.0 CRITICAL DISCUSSION
Sony's success could be based mainly in the capacity of leadership in the engineering team.
Engineers are more likely to prefer a task-oriented leader, therefore Hersey-Blanchard
4. 2
model can fit perfectly at Sony. As mentioned by Schermerhorn, et al. (2014), Hersey-
Blanchard leadership model is that depending of the capacity to act in a given situation,
shown by the maturity of the followers, their leaders will adapt their styles to them. It
means that in a specific company such as Sony, its leader can be more successful if he or she
fits in an environment of engineers. Moreover, Hersey-Blanchard model has several
combinations of relationship behaviour support and task behaviour guidance, such as
"telling", which is low in support and high in guidance, followed by "selling", high in both,
thirdly "participating", which is high in support and low in guidance, and finally "delegating"
which is low in support and low in guidance (Schermerhorn, et al., 2014). In this case, it is
likely that engineers are capable because they are qualified, and their grade of confidence
will depend on their experience and training, therefore their support and guidance by the
leader should be closely related to "participating" and "delegating". Additionally, the
satisfaction of the follower with the leader and his performance are linked with the leader
task and relationship behaviours (Blank, as cited in Cairns, Hollenback, Preziosi, & Snow,
1998). It is unlikely that Stringer, having journalist background, had this skills in the field of
electronics. Furthermore, the better quality of leader means better the employee
disposition to do the job, and lesser the workers get stressed, and lesser their intentions to
leave (Jui-Chen, & Silverthorne, 2005). It has been noticed that Stringer was not greatly
valued by his employees, who were able to recognize his low skills in the electronics field.
Potential development of workers has to be linked to leadership effectiveness (Morrison, as
cited in Luo, & Liu, 2014). Stringer's effectiveness could not be satisfactory, firstly because
his communication in Japanese was not good and secondly because he was not an expert in
this field. Therefore, many factors pointed out that Sony’s leadership model was improper.
4.0 CONCLUSION
In conclusion, Sony needed great improvements which were not met. Firstly, they chose a
leader that did not know Japanese culture, or spoke this language, and had no knowledge of
software. Secondly, it has been shown how Hersey-Blanchard model could have met needs
and requirements of the company. Finally, it has been explained why Stringer did not meet
Hersey-Blanchard model and his main mistakes toward success in this challenge, which led
to impact on company overall.
5. 3
5.0 APPENDIX
5.1 Swot Analysis
SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGHT WEAKNESSES
Enterprise wants to be leader.
Good team of engineers
Owners persistently looking for solutions
Still do not find good leader
Lack of knowledge in software
Do not find solutions
OPPORTUNITIES THREATHS
Learn from competitors
Sony has a good image
Exchange of knowledge hardware-software
Competitors advance quickly
World financial crisis
Natural disasters in Japan
Hackers
7. 5
6.0 REFERENCES
Barber, L. (2012). Lunch with the FT: Sir Howard Stringer. FT.Com. Retrieved 10/08/2015
from
http://search.proquest.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/docview/1031188773?acco
untid=14543
Cairns, T. D., Hollenback, J., Preziosi, R. C., & Snow, W. A. (1998). Technical note: A study of
Hersey and Blanchard's situational leadership theory. Leadership & Organization
Development Journal, 19(2), 113-116.
Jui-Chen, C., & Silverthorne, C. (2005). Leadership effectiveness, leadership style and
employee readiness. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 26(3), 280-
288.
Luo, H., & Liu, S. (2014). Effect of situational leadership and employee readiness match on
organizational citizenship behaviour in China. Social Behavior and Personality,
42(10), 1725-1732.
Schermerhorn, J.R., Davidson, P., Poole, D., Simon, A., Woods, P. & McBarron, E. (2014).
Management: Foundations and applications, 2nd
Asia-Pacific Edition. Milton Qld:
Wiley.
