Waste Management's New Strategy

            David Steiner, CEO of Waste Management, started off his work career as a lawyer. When he moved to New Orleans, he had to find a new job. He had job offers from many companies in the area including Waste Management. Even Enron, which was doing great at the time, wanted him to join their organization. However, Steiner took the job at Waste Management as the Deputy General Officer and within 3.5 years, Steiner was the CEO.

           

            Now that Steiner is the leader of this great organization, he has learned that he has to listen to his customers. Waste Management needs to build around what the customers want inorder to create value for them. He is currently working on building up these positive relationships with his customers using a competitive strategy. To extract more value out of the materials Waste Management uses, Steiner plans to lower the customers’ cost of service, which will ultimately raise profits for his organization. Steiner described this strategy as a “win-win” situation.

           

            He also went on to describe how Waste Management tried to protect their customers by taking the risk when oil and commodities were high. He now wants to share the risk and work together through trust. Steiner also described how Waste Management uses their website to help communicate with their consumers. This helps them interact with their customers to create a better experience for both sides. The style of leadership that Steiner is demonstrating during this situation is transformational leadership.

           

            A transformational leadership is the process when a leader engages with others and creates a connection that raises the level of motivation and moral in both the leader and the follower. Steiner is currently trying to involve his customers to work with the organization so they both benefit from this new strategy. He is trying to help his followers reach their fullest potential by creating a value for them.

           

            According to Kouzes and Posner’s Transformational Perspective, Steiner exhibits the five fundamental practices that enable leaders to get amazing things achieved. This practice includes: modeling the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act, and encourage the heart.

           

            Modeling the way is when the leader role models his values and philosophy to others. He sets an example for others through his behaviors. Steiner performs this practice when he took the risk from his customers when the oil prices went up. He did not raise their prices, he just continue to cover the costs for them. This shows how Steiner will stick to his word and not let go of his promises. He is modeling the trust that he wants his customers to also have in him.

           

            He also inspires a shared vision with his followers. This is when a leader is able to visualize positive outcomes in the future and communicates it to others. Steiner does this by listening to what his employees want. He realizes that they want lower costs and a trustworthy company. Steiner shows his customers how their dreams can be met through his shared vision of creating a value for Waste Management, along with his consumers.

           

            Challenging the process is another practice for a transformational leader. This is when a leader changes the status quo and steps into the indefinite situation. Steiner challenges the process of the waste industry by using an interactive website. His company is the first waste company to use this strategy and try something new. He wants to find a better way to communicate with his employees so why not create a website that both parties can benefit from using.

           

            Steiner also enables others to act, which is building trust with others to promote collaboration. He wants to create a team-like business where the customers can use Waste Management for lower costs, and Waste Management can use their consumers to raise their market share and profits. This helps create an environment where people can feel comfortable about their teamwork and how it benefits each other.

           

            The last transformational practice that Steiner displays is encouraging the heart. This is when a leader rewards his followers, which are his employees in this situation, for their accomplishments. Steiner praises his workers for jobs well done when they gain more market share. He makes sure he verbally rewards his workers for their hard work and dedication while working through this new strategy of listening to the customers.

           

            Overall, Steiner exhibits all of Kouzes and Posner’s fundamental practices of transformational leadership. Through his drive to change Waste Management’s current strategy, Steiner is on the right track to accomplishing his goal for his organization and customers. Do you guys believe that this leadership style will provide Waste Management with the “win-win” goal they are trying to achieve?

 Source:  http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2011/04/06/ls_waste_management_info.fortune/ 

Posted by: Genise Logston

Chipotle's CEO Steve Ellis Shares Chipotle's Secret Ingredient

http://www.bonappetit.com/blogsandforums/blogs/badaily/2010/09/steve-ells.html

Chipotle Chairman and Co-CEO Steve Ellis opened the first Chipotle Mexican Grill in Denver, Colorado in 1993. Ellis had the idea of creating fast food that could also be good food, not only in taste but in the integrity of the ingredients. Chipotle uses chicken without antibiotics and beef without hormones. Ellis developed Chipotle this way because he felt so many food producers cheaply exploited animals and the environment and he wanted to prevent this.

Ellis believes the future of fast food should show respect for people's taste buds, for their health, for the environment, for animal welfare, and for traditional farming methods. He is working to transform our generation of fast-food eaters and prove to them it is possible to eat fresh, high quality, sustainably raised ingredients that are delicious, without paying more. Ellis believes the future of fast food will see more concepts like Chipotle and fewer of the old concepts that are serving cheap, highly processed food.

When asked about America’s obesity in an interview Ellis stated that, “The problem with fast food is that the traditional fast food model is built on buying the cheapest ingredients. What people do not realize is the possibilities out there for serving fast, inexpensive food with quality ingredients.”

Ellis believes a great restaurateur is someone who's truly passionate about what they do. It is someone who is not in it for the money, but for the love of the food. The very best restaurateurs he says “Are leaders who empower their teams to carry on their mission or start their own restaurants.” He encourages others to share the importance of his natural ingredient mission.

Ellis can be considered a transformational leader because he is a charismatic, enthusiastic, self-confident leader whose personality and actions influence people to behave in a certain way. In this particular case, Ellis is encouraging his followers to take part in a healthier lifestyle and choose to produce or eat fast foods that are not harming consumers, animals, or the environment.

Ellis is a transformational leader because he demonstrates the ability to effectively challenge the process. His idea for using sustainably raised ingredients was an innovative move he made to improve the health risks associated with fast foods. He also inspires a shared vision by challenging others to open their own restaurants and introduce higher quality ingredients. He believes it could impact Americans in a whole new way and create a change for the better.

Ellis communicates high expectations for Chipotle’s food and service standards and this is reflected by how successful his business has become and how quickly it has expanded. Ellis models the way by expressing his high standards of moral and ethical conducts. Followers see what an authentic leader he is from the way he shows concern for the health of his customers. He takes social responsibility very seriously.

Do you believe Ellis possesses transformational leadership and influences his followers to accomplish more than what is usually expected?

Posted By: Christine Burklin

Jim Mulva's push for change in Alaska's oil tax sturcture

ConocoPhilips’s current CEO, Jim Mulva is a very competitive leader in the highly competitive oil industry. During the current economic downturn many industries saw a decline, but the oil business has only seen the demands increase while the price has increased as well. Mulva is currently faced with a big organizational change opportunity with a possible expansion into Alaska. Mulva feels there is a big opportunity for success in Alaska, but first change must be made in Alaska. He must also consider the values and morals of Alaska and make an ethical decision to create the greatest good in the greatest amount of people. 

  

Jim Mulva has recently stated in a news conference in Alaska if the state can change their current tax law structure he will invest in the state and bring operations into Alaska. Jim is faced with an ethical decision and his leadership style may be impacted by his decision. Under this current economic downturn, many states could use the help of investors to help bring in some revenues and create jobs. With this ConocoPhillips expansion and investment in the oil fields of Alaska, the whole state of Alaska may benefit. Mulva’s leadership and decision making can create the greatest good for the greatest amount of people. According to the theological theories in leadership ethics the focus is on the consequences of the leaders actions. Mulva’s actions will create positive consequences in the state of Alaska.

Mulva is currently making a critical decision that exemplifies utilitarianism. This decision is balanced between the interest of his organization (ConocoPhillips) and the interest of others, mainly the state of Alaska in this case. With that being said the biggest impact on the state of Alaska will be the increased job opportunities. Mulva said “Change is needed first,” which is impacted by the tax decision. Once the taxes are cut ConocoPhillips will begin to invest in the oil fields and potentially increase production from 600,000 barrels per day to 1 million barrels a day. Jim Mulva was faced with an ethical decision that could have impacted his organization in wither a good or bad way. Do you think Jim made the ethical choice when he agreed after a tax cut he will invest in new operations in Alaska?

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ConocoPhillips-CEO-urges-apf-4087536398.html?x=0&.v=1

Posted by: Sean Gremillion

Google's CEO

It is said that Larry Page is going to be reclaiming his position as Google’s CEO in early April.  There are many ways that a leader can lead a group of people.  But, the way he wants to make a difference in the company and be a strong motivated leader is through Transformational Leadership. Page has stated that he wants to figure out ways that “the company can act more like a start-up than an incumbent.”  Therefore, he is determined to change attitudes as well as behaviors of people inside the company.  This type of leadership is impossible to accomplish without trust.  I think that because he is doing many things to help his company be the best they can be and becoming involved in all types of management, this is going to show employees that he is trying to be a better leader in the best interest of the company.

There are four main steps in transformational leadership; consisting of idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration.  Page is using all of these factors in his leadership in many different ways at Google.  Idealized influence is when a leader acts as a role model and makes others want to follow the leader’s vision.  Page’s vision is to bring back the elements of the early days of the company.  In order to do this, he is sending emails to different managers and asking them to write about what they are working on in a short paragraph.  By doing this, he is getting a good idea of what major projects are going on and then evaluating what is important.  With today’s fast pace environment combined with technology, there are times when projects get to be more complicated rather than simple.  He is also going to go through the projects and prioritizing them to make sure they are focusing on the most important goals.

Another factor of transactional theory is inspirational motivation.  This element is when a leader communicates high expectations and using symbols to focus group members to achieve more than self-interest.   I believe that Page is setting high expectations in his company by keeping up with the competition.  He is setting expectations of his company to start working on driver-less car technology and scanning all books to be able to put them search engines.  He is creating a large goal in order for the company to become a whole and achieve more than self interest.

The third factor of transactional leadership is intellectual stimulation which is when a leader stimulates followers to be creative and innovative.  Page has recently has been traveling to talk to managers about problems that they are facing.  In order to help fix these problems he “has asked that employees develop new practices for meetings, such as designating a decision-maker and refraining from working on their laptops.”  His goal through this is to create an atmosphere where there is new stimulation for new ideas.  The last factor in transformational leadership is the individualized consideration.  This portion of the model deals with when a leader listens carefully to the needs of followers as well as helps them through personnel changes.  In order to conquer this part of the leadership, Page has taken top executives and gotten them to work in every day public area, so the employees can directly approach them on matters.  Page is creating an atmosphere for the employees to become more comfortable in talking one on one with the people in charge about their issues and successes.

I think that this form of leadership describes many goals that Page wants to accomplish in the next few months and years.  Do you think that this form of leadership is appropriate or do you think that there is better one that fits well?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703784004576220902706041400.html?mod=WSJ_mgmt_LeadStoryCollectionSecond

--Posted by Devan Pritchett