Answer

• CEOs and President’s-Leadership Styles

  The concept of leadership in business organizations is a vital component in promoting business culture and enhancing the state’s economy as it entails making sound- although it may be challenging- decisions, creating and establishing a clear mission/vision, instituting achievable objectives, and providing subordinates with the knowledge as well as a tool necessary to attain those goals (Hussain & Hassan, 2016). Nonetheless, portraying good leadership qualities cognitively depends on the influence process of each leader. Some of the influence processes include allocation of resources, direct decisions, selection as well as promotion of other personnel, reward system, and role modeling. All leaders, including those in the top management executives such as CEOs, do influence their business. The apparent influence processes are determined by experiences derived from company culture, strategic insight, and personality traits. In this paper, several influence processes implemented by leaders such as Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs will be analyzed in detail.

  Role of Influence Processes in Leadership

  Every organization is trying to compete favorably to achieve success in today’s changing and challenging world. Scholars have suggested that the increase in the contribution of the task force to value creation and development in a dynamic competitive transactional system has led to a transformation in the look of leaders to the workforce from a single entity of production to an organization setting (Veliu et al., 2017). Without the willingness of leaders to adopt specific influence processes, organizations will fail to attain effectiveness. This is why the management of different organizations employs distinct styles to establish a mutually beneficial working environment.

  One of the influence process roles is propelling organizations’ vision by emphasizing the development of the task force, encouraging them towards self-fulfillment, and aspiring to fulfill their duties beyond expectations. Acceptable influence processes encourage employees to work beyond their duties and functions (Fiaz et al., 2017). In addition, they encourage organizational culture and offer policies to be followed during critical times. Also, it is effective in improving and promoting business effectiveness by increasing levels of capabilities, skills, and the commitment of the labor force.

  The second role of influence processes in leadership is creating perceived organizational support that upholds the feeling and beliefs of the subordinates. In this regard, businesses value collaboration. Their stakeholders’ support and apprehension about their prosperity and future will create a sense of belonging towards giving effort to the firm. Some of the supportive initiatives adopted by leaders include making good decisions, offering rewards, promotions, and allocating necessary resources (Söderhjelm et al., 2018). The perception of this support system is to increase employees’ expectations in that their efforts correlate with the objectives of the business. In broader prospects, when firms deal with their labor force with good interests and focus, they convey the ideology that the firms value them. Hence, both leaders and employees will profit more, express higher levels of commitment, favorable attributes, as well as higher levels of job satisfaction.

  Types of Influence Processes

  Direct Decisions

  This performance and strategic orientation that leaders adopt entail having sturdy control over the company’s mission and vision. In other words, the leaders have total control in determining the organization’s culture (Lamm et al., 2016). Similarly, all decisions are made by the management, which expects the subordinates to follow every requirement.

  Allocation of Resources

  Leaders who use this style determine the functionality of their companies by providing relevant resources for effective management such as technological resources, financial resources, and human resources (Veliu et al., 2017).. The formulation as well a modification of strategies are also offered by the leaders in cases whereby there is a direct correlation between leaders and managers.

  Reward System

  This is the most preferred influence process adopted by many leaders. Studies indicate this influence process has a significant impact on the organization’s culture (Lamm et al., 2016). The task force of identified businesses is also affected by this initiate as they expect to be rewarded for accomplishing certain targets or behaving in a particular way. In most cases, the reward could be in the form of promotions or monetary benefits.

  Role Modelling

  Studies have indicated that it is certainly the most effective influence style since it is rooted in setting an example for others. Participative leaders offer direction to their subordinates, but they also contribute to the group and accept their input. Studies have shown that employees in this group are relatively productive (Veliu et al., 2017). This influence process gives the task force more space to be creative, transcend into the future, and devise new solutions to the apparent problems.

  Selection and Promotion

  This influence style entails the process of inspiring, encouraging, and motivating subordinates to establish and accept the change that will enable them to develop and determine the future achievements of the organization whereby leaders inspire, encourage, and motivate subordinates to establish and accept the change that will enable them to develop and determine the future achievements of the organization (Lamm et al., 2016). Those who perform well are identified and promoted to higher ranks. Researchers have established that organizations with this form of leadership perform very poorly in the production process. The task force in this form of leadership also made more demands on the leader almost every time, unable to work independently and expressed little collaboration.

  Factors Affecting Influence Process

  Company Culture

  The nature of any organizational culture will determine the influence process of leadership adopted in the work environment. In situations where organizations have a strong culture of well-trained as well as motivated workers, the leaders can adopt the reward system. This influence process is mostly hands-off as leaders believe their subordinates can handle any task with minimal supervision (Veliu et al., 2017). The manager is there to motivate but not to oversee the progression of any project. Other organizations are focused more on creativity as a contributing determining factor of success. Generally, this culture requires managers to appreciate the efforts of their workers by inspiring them through incentives.

  Strategic Acumen

  Enhancing one’s strategic acumen is a leadership strategy designed to sharpen businesses to gain a competitive edge over their rivals. For instance, a leader who strongly believes in teamwork as the most appropriate method to handling tasks would mostly consider role modeling as the best influence process. This approach requires the leaders to participate with workers in creating solutions to problems (Hassan et al., 2018). Other individuals who wish to reinforce the value of workers learning and appreciating self-management operate well as transformational leaders. This leadership style entails setting what employees have to achieve, taking them through on how to attain these changes, and persuading their employees to appreciate the process of transforming the company.

  Personality Traits

  Influence processes in leadership are majorly affected by a leader’s personality. A competitive individual is always inclined to become a pacesetter or try to show the task force that high output levels are certain (Hussain & Hassan, 2016). In other words, such a leader would highly implement the direct decisions strategy in determining the direction of his or her company. Similarly, a leader who feels that the company’s requirements must be met, considering that employees are given salaries, would likely depend on the reward system.

  The methodology used to Identify and Research Leaders

  The method adopted in identifying the leaders and collecting data regarding their influence processes in leadership was the non-experimental or quantitative research method. The non-experimental research design is descriptive or correlational (Hassan et al., 2018). In other words, researchers tend to use studies from previous scholars on the same subject to compare and make inferences about the subject matter. It focuses on exploring, explaining, differentiating, and examining associations among variables or groups. This research design does not have interference from the researcher, and concern leans towards the validity of the measurements instead of the validity of the effects.

  Warren Buffet Influence Style

  Practically, Warren Buffett’s holding positions may be forever upheld considering the number of companies he owns and their annual revenue (Kizil, 2016). Nonetheless, he tends to shuffle the stalwarts of his portfolio randomly. All the same, Apple and Wells Fargo seem to be his favorites considering that the two companies have been competing against each other. As of late, the Bank of America and Coke appear to be the pillar of Buffett’s holdings, with Kraft Heinz being the fifth on the list. 

  Warren Buffett’s influence style in his businesses is ultimately pegged on transforming the current state of an identified organization into a better one in terms of production and distribution of goods and services by providing them with the required resources. Before becoming a millionaire, Buffett’s main aspiration was to work on the Wallstreet as a stockbroker, but his father advised him otherwise. Later he decided to save his earnings and invest in companies to increase his income (Kizil, 2016). After partnering with Lorimer Davidson, who was the Vice President at GEICO, Buffett had enough capital to start investing in companies that appeared to be struggling in the stock market but had the potential of being giants in the global market. 

  After investing in a couple of companies like the Coca-Cola Company and Berkshire Hathaway, their respective shares escalated due to effective leadership. Buffett’s first move after owning these companies was to look for proficient leaders who aspired to transform these companies into big shots (Kizil, 2016). By hiring skilled and talented employees, Buffett transformed Berkshire Hathaway, a clothing company, into a giant holding firm.

  The influence style has aided Buffet in organizing and maintaining his structural management system among all his firms. Every firm has diverse branches that perform distinct functions but operate under one supervision, considering that the management has to affirm meeting their goals (Kizil, 2016). For these firms to realize their objectives, Buffett sensitizes that their respective administrations have to outline their roles, offer the required resources and train their workforce, to affirm their abilities.

  Strengths of Allocation of Resources to the Company

  Offering the required resources lowers the employee turnover rate since workers are highly motivated. Also, it promotes corporate vision and collective responsibility (Fiaz et al., 2017). Similarly, high morale among employees is also experienced. 

  Weaknesses of Allocations of Resources to the Company

  Leaders using this influence style can easily deceive workers and make them indolent when handling. For instance, some employees will always know that the company has enough human resources to handle certain tasks (Hassan et al., 2018). Therefore, most of them will overlook certain duties assuming that there is always another worker who will rise to the task. The problem with this assumption is that the firm will not achieve its goals when employees fail to commit.

  Bill Gates Influence Style

  Bill Gates is a good example of a leader who solely depends on role modeling style in managing his firms. Many assume that Bill gates relate his success to the operations of his companies, but the billionaire’s interests have for a long time been on his employees. According to Gates, real leadership is the fundamental motivational factor that can lead to an effective working climate. Organizations that strive to generate an excellent working atmosphere will directly influence their workers to work hard to ensure that every duty and responsibility aligns with the organization’s and personal goals (Lamm et al., 2016). Nonetheless, conflicts emerging in the workforce will significantly reduce since respect looms around every worker. Administrators can also easily introduce and implement policies within the organization because there is little resistance from the workforce, so Buffett applies the transactional leadership style in managing his employees. The application part of the influence style that Bill Gates uses in managing his firms has industrialized the massive flow of their production systems. The benefit of this process is that it combines both the technical rudiments used in these firms.

  Strengths of Role Modelling

  Having a leader who is a role model is vital for organizations since they influence employees on how to perform when allocated duties. The advantage of this influence style is that it encourages innovation and creativity from employees (Veliu et al., 2017). Furthermore, this procedure helps explain the worthiness of the task force in sustaining the operations of a defined organization. Similarly, it creates an operational system that is easy to introduce and assimilate for both leaders and employees. Positive role models will determine employees’ actions and motivate them to strive to uncover their true potentials and overcome their weaknesses.

  Weaknesses of Role Modelling

  The major weakness of this influence style is that it can create an incompetent task force. For instance, if the management has poor leadership skills, the subordinates will tend to follow suit hence becoming ineffectual (Hassan et al., 2018). Also, empathy is not considered. Another disadvantage is that this style grooms more followers than managers among workers. 

  Steve Jobs Influence Style

  As a leader, Steve Jobs depended on direct decisions about the best influence style of ensuring that his employees are up to any task they are given and that customers are satisfied with his goods or services (Kim, 2020). This leadership style is an ideology on effective leadership, which depends on the idea that an organization’s success depends on the choices that the leader makes concerning the company’s current state. This form of influence process has enabled experienced and skillful workers to take the opportunity to sharpen their leadership competencies. Because employees under this influence process tend to make certain decisions, the chances of being adept leaders in the future are relatively certain.

  Strengths of Direct Decision Process

  The major benefit of direct decisions is that the workforce will be committed to following every instruction on specific tasks to the latter. Employees will likewise encourage each other to knuckle down and provide a helping hand to anyone in need. Still, either physical or psychological, directing employees promotes a healthy working association between the workers and the management (Fiaz et al., 2017). Directing workers will ensure that the effort produced is high quality and good quantity hence achieving all the business goals. Similarly, this process helps in making a pessimist worker develop optimistic characteristics. A directed employee will desire to maximize the output levels and make the best out of every duty assigned. 

  Weaknesses of Direct Decision Process

  One of the cons of the direct decision process is that it inhibits creativity among employees. Since the management makes all decisions, workers are hardly allowed to air or exploit their new ideas when tackling emerging problems. Another disadvantage is it discourages adaptability and autonomy. This influence style naturally depends on higher-level control, making workers feel restricted and insignificant. Similarly, direct decision style inhibits adaptability (Kim, 2020). Organizations that lack the skill of adaptability experience significant challenges in a competitive environment. Seemingly, this is an integral consideration when linked to being open towards change as managers or even encountering unforeseen issues within the business. Lastly, this influence style prevents ownership of responsibilities by employees. When workers lack any sense of accountability or responsibility for their tasks, they tend to feel side-lined hence increasing the chances of decreased productivity.

  Summary

  There are various influence processes that leaders could use to determine the culture of their organizations. According to Warren Buffet, the most appropriate influence is the allocation of resources. By providing technological resources, financial resources, and human resources, Warren Buffet has upgraded his businesses. As for Billy Gates, role modeling has been his most preferred influence process. This style has enabled the leader to motivate and inspire his employees with minimal supervision. Lastly, Steve Jobs depended on direct decisions whereby all forms of command and control emanated from the leaders, and the subordinates expected to follow them to the latter.

  Conclusion

  In the current business world, where competition is the norm, establishing an effective influence process in leadership will propel organizations towards success. Modern leaders’ most common influence styles include allocation of resources, direct decisions, selection as well as promotion of other personnel, reward system, and role modeling. Leaders who use allocation of resources selection, as well as promotion of other personnel and reward system, tend to induce changes in the organizations as a way of increasing performance among employees. Those who depend on role modeling and reward system influence style use the employer-employee relationship to determine the motivation and retribution systems to propel the organization towards success. As for direct decisions, leaders who use this style allow employees to make decisions to motivate them to be responsible leaders in the future.