Cisco is an international high-technology manufacturing and distribution company. The Cisco organizational culture is highly diversified and is built around creating opportunities for employees to take initiatives and implement them. Moreover, the company largely has the characteristics of a delegated leadership style. With this type of management, tasks are distributed in different directions. Although this type of management has some advantages, it can cause organizational problems.
Cisco’s executive leadership team is large, and each member leads a specific area of the organization’s work. The management team includes the CEO, Chuck Robbins, and 11 executive vice presidents who lead various areas (Cisco Systems Inc., 2022). In addition, each department has several divisions, each of which is led by a senior leader. The delegation of managerial responsibilities allows for speeding up some business processes in the company since it eliminates the need to wait for a decision on any issues from the CEO. Most employee problems or requests are resolved at the department level (Zulfikar & Rahman, 2019). Moreover, this approach helps to raise employee satisfaction by meeting their needs.
However, delegation leadership can backfire, reducing productivity and efficiency. This approach reduces control over business processes and the ability to track employee performance. Investigation of the problem is important to maintain the company’s leadership position in the market and ensure a favorable working environment for employees. First, this approach can negatively impact employee motivation and commitment (Zulfikar & Rahman, 2019). Secondly, the delegation of tasks often involves separate work of different departments, which practically do not interact with each other. That affects the team’s cohesion, and each participant will focus on achieving their own goals, not the company’s. Finally, the delegative leadership style is based on the trust and competence of each employee in their field (Cisco Systems, Inc., 2023). However, a person’s lack of professional skills necessary to perform the assigned tasks can lead to a decrease in the productivity of the organization and a decrease in employee motivation. Due to internal processes in the company, its ability to quickly adapt to changing market conditions is significantly deteriorating, which can mean a loss of competitiveness.
Overcoming these problems is possible by creating a corporate culture to raise employees’ motivation and efficiency. The culture and values must be clearly defined and promoted within the company. For Cisco, the best option for this issue is creating a culture of support for innovation to increase the ability to quickly adapt to changing market (Organizational behavior, n.d.). The values in such a culture can be the equality of all employees, mutually beneficial cooperation, and initiative. In addition, the company needs to have artifacts, that is, tangible ways to realize these values. For example, Cisco focuses on “cultivating an inclusive work environment where employees can thrive” (Cisco Systems, Inc., 2023, para. 6). However, achieving this is possible through the company’s investment in the professional development and education of employees. Moreover, shared culture and values promote team building and teamwork to achieve the company’s global goals. Therefore, the company must promote and maintain communication between different departments to improve overall results and performance.
Thus, the organizational structure and leadership style of Cisco, despite the positive impact, can cause a decrease in the productivity and efficiency of employees. Delegative leadership implies the division of responsibilities between different departments and individuals, which may cause employees to not feel like part of a team and lose motivation to work towards a common goal. However, one way to overcome this is to create a shared culture and values and implement them within the organization through visible activities. That will help ensure the motivation and commitment of employees, as well as increase the productivity and adaptability of the company.
References
Cisco Systems, Inc. (2023). Corporate Social Responsibility. Web.
Cisco Systems Inc. (2022). Executive team. Web.
Organizational behavior. (n.d). Web.
Zulfikar, V. A., & Rahman, R. S. (2019). Effect of Delegative Leadership on Achievement Motivation and Continuous Commitment. Kontigensi: Jurnal Ilmiah Manajemen, 7(2), 44-53. Web.