Assignment of Management wenku

Assignment of Management Leadership of Jack Ma

2012.5

Leadership of Jack Ma

Abstract

Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba Group, leads his group becoming an international group in e-commerce and online transaction. As the president of such a giant group, his leadership is widely discussed and studied by many people. The essay interprets his leadership basing on existing theories as well as new opinions founded by the author. In the first half of the essay, the analysis mainly connects to the classical managerial theory of leadership, and the rest of the essay combines oriental philosophy with Ma‟s leadership, showing his special managerial figure that differ from others‟.

Key words

Jack Ma, leadership, oriental philosophy

Introduction

Ralph Nader says, “The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” A Teal Trust Web site offers the following definition: “In The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, John Maxwell sums up his definition of leadership as, …leadership is influence –nothing more, nothing less.‟ This moves beyond the position defining the leader, to looking at the ability of the leader to influence others–both those who would consider themselves followers, and those outside that circle. Indirectly, it also builds in leadership character, since without maintaining integrity and trustworthiness; the capability to influence will disappear.” Being a leader is more than managing a set of tasks or acting as a figurehead. Being a leader requires that we attempt to create new words, new meanings, new orders, new behaviors that will lift us all to a higher level of awareness and interaction.

As Peter Drucker said, “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”And as John D. Rockefeller said, “Good leadership consists in showin g average people how to do the work of superior people.” These famous quotes from two masters of management argue that leadership is significant for a manager or even the whole enterprise. However, leadership has many styles, western or eastern, classical or contemporary. I think one of the typical leaders in China, especially in electronic business, is Jack Ma (Ma Yun), the president of Alibaba Group.

Background

Alibaba Group is a family of Internet-based businesses which makes it easy for anyone to buy or sell online anywhere in the world. Since its inception, it has developed leading businesses in consumer e-commerce, online payment, business-to-business marketplaces and cloud computing, reaching

Internet users in more than 240 countries and regions. The Group is currently focused on fostering the development of an open, collaborative and prosperous e-commerce ecosystem.

Alibaba Group was founded in 1999 by 18 people led by Jack Ma, a former English teacher from Hangzhou, China who has aspired to help make the Internet accessible, trustworthy and beneficial for everyone. The privately held Alibaba Group, including its affiliated entities, employs more than 24,000 people in some 70 cities in Greater China, India, Japan, Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States.

By now, Alibaba Group has become the largest electronic business group and the second largest all over the world. As a consequence, Jack Ma becomes the focus of the world, and again, is chosen to be a business case by Harvard Business Review. Jack Ma is now becoming one of the most influential entrepreneurs in China. It is his contribute that makes e-commerce gradually becomes the most fashionable business form. How he realized his dream with his team, and finally became the giant of the electronic business from a small enterprise? What his leadership is? How he manage a large-scale group with thousands of people? Everyone wonders the answer.

The identification of Jack Ma’s leadership based on existing theories

Theory X and Theory Y

Douglas McGregor described Theory X and Theory Y () in his book, The Human Side of Enterprise. Theory X and Theory Y each represent different ways in which leaders view employees. Theory X managers believe that employees are motivated mainly by money, are lazy, uncooperative, and have poor work habits. Theory Y managers believe that subordinates work hard, are cooperative, and have positive attitudes.

Absolutely, Jack Ma is likely to be a leader meeting the standard of Theory Y. At the very beginning of his start-up, his business is not worth mentioning. As many entrepreneurs, he lacked capital, relationships, support, and market share, but had to develop his company. However, Ma had a dream and sold it to his employees. With passions and enthusiasm, his company developed from several people to thousands of people and gained unpredictable support and resources. Ma has a firm belief of his subordinates that they have strong will to achieve the goal.

Situational leadership theory with Path-Goal theory

This theory developed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard (1974), with a model called situational leadership theory (SLT), focusing on followers‟readiness. SLT uses the same two leadership dimensions that Fiedler identified: task and relationship behaviors. According to the SLT model, leadership style is defined as four aspects, telling, selling, participating and delegating. Another theory, path-goal theory (House,1111)is derived from