Term Paper: Welch Leadership Qualities

SAMPLE EXCERPT:

[. . .] The most problematic implication of Welch's leadership is the concern that his dynamic and hands-on style of leadership cannot be replicated. Such is to say that it may not be entirely clear that the system left behind by Welch is conducive to the needs of a successor.

5. Analyze and Criticaly evaluate Welch's Leadership relative to Leader-Memeber Exchange Theory (Northouse Figure 8.1-8.4).

Following the period of major restructuring, Welch would shift his leadership orientation with an emphasis on improving company culture. It would be at this point that he would begin to focus on improving openness and multidirectional exchange within the company. This would be evocative of the Leader-Member Exchange theory, which "conceptualizes leadership as a process that is center on interactions between leaders and followers." (Northouse, p. 161)

Cultivation of these relationships at multiple levels of the organization would come to define the second phase of Welch's tenure. Here within, the CEO would demonstrate a favoritism toward those departemnts, managers and organizational members who were participatory and engaged in the culture shift. Resistance to this change in orientation would place one in Welch's 'out-group.' This would be especially so at the leadership levels throughout the organization, where Welch would personally see to the placement of a generation of 'new vision' leaders who shared his expectations for a large corporate whose internal culture more closely resembled a small business.

Works Cited:

Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice, 6th Edition. Thousand Oaks,…