Leadership is the practice by which an administrator may lead, guide, and impact the activity and performance of others to achieve specified objectives in a given circumstance. Facebook is an organization headed by Mark Zuckerberg, the Chief Executive Officer. The organization has flourished due to the crucial strengths that the leader has displayed. The leader has demonstrated various leadership strengths that have assisted in lifting the organization to greater heights. Good leadership strengths help guide the organization on the right path to success. He demonstrates strengths in self-awareness which calls for individual assessment of one’s strengths and weaknesses. Another strength he has is effective communication with the people within the organization. With good communication, management of the organization has become easy, and consequently, conflicts have been avoided.
Additionally, he has portrayed good collaboration skills, which have enhanced teamwork among members irrespective of their background. As a good leader, he embodies specific values that have helped govern the organization. These values are humility, vision, empowerment, empathy, and commitment. Overall, by nurturing such importance, he has earned much respect and responsibility from the team in the organization. At the same time, he has adopted the democratic ruling style for effective organizational management. Democratic leadership has proven unbiased and effective in bringing diverse employees together (Al Khajeh 5). In democratic leadership, decisions are made with the involvement of all team members.
Although the manager makes the final decision, every member has an equal say in democratic leadership. Team members such as the head of human resources also play specific roles, including job analysis and design, hiring candidates, designing work policies, monitoring the workplace, etc. The vice president of IT plays a role in planning, developing, and implementing organization software and infrastructures. The chief operating officer plays several functions, such as providing a strategic vision for the company, controlling the company’s operations, and nurturing growth among the executive team. Against this backdrop, this essay aims to highlight the challenges facing leaders in the Facebook organization and how the leader can address those challenges. At the same time, its objective is to analyze Facebook policies.
Like any organization, Facebook is associated with various challenges that need to be addressed. Ethical issues such as data privacy violations need to be managed by the organization. In recent years, the organization has been in the spotlight for the misuse of user data. According to Bratton, leaders create an ethical environment due to their crucial position within the organization and their influence over the development of organizational principles (27). Facebook is required to maintain the commitments concerning confidentiality that it provides to its hundreds of millions of customers. Consumer privacy does not have to be sacrificed for Facebook to innovate. For an organization to succeed, there should be ethics that analyzes the leader’s identity and roles. When an ethical culture is adopted within an organization, conflicts between employers and employees are reduced significantly. A moral leader should be fair and just and treat all employees equally. Notably, a good ethical environment will increase employees’ reliability which consequently improves the organization’s productivity.
Trust between employees poses to be another challenge facing Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook. The cornerstone of a good and successful organization is primarily built around belief among its members. As a leader, it is essential to give members autonomy over handling their work. The leader’s role is to guarantee that team members realize what they are expected to do, why and how their inputs matter and provide them with the necessary knowledge to do their responsibilities successfully. When the team is trusted and empowered, they will be able to accomplish more. It is also crucial to have trust inside the unit. What is beneficial for the leader is also excellent for the rest of the team. On a personal level, authenticity, logic, and empathy make colleagues trust one another. Therefore, a leader must offer members of the team appreciation for their accomplishments. A leader should also intervene impartially and when necessary whenever personal conflicts threaten to derail goal achievement.
The poor work environment has influenced employees’ output rate in the organization. A workplace is defined as a setting where a person does their job, whereas an effective workplace is defined as one in which management-expected results can be attained (Bratton 25). The workplace environment has a significant influence on employee productivity, attitude, and performance. A lousy workplace can cause employees to develop problems such as absenteeism.
The physical environment in which a task is conducted directly affects performance. As a component of the workplace environment, the physical environment directly affects human perception and can gradually alter interpersonal relationships and increase productivity. Employees working in the organization are satisfied when specific workstation characteristics are available. For example, employees will be stressed and unproductive in workplace environments full of macroaggressions. Conversely, when employees have a physical and emotional drive to work, their performance outcomes will improve. Thus, absenteeism can be minimized by creating a conducive work environment, boosting productivity and quality of work.
Facebook organization policy. Only by existing rules and regulations will Facebook share data with the board. In rare cases, one or more people’s express approval may be required before a review can start. The committee will handle any such data submitted by Facebook, following Facebook’s instructions and legislation. It will only utilize this information to investigate a case. In compliance with these bylaws, the administration will not reveal information on people who use Facebook’s services unless authorized in a final decision.
Plan. To curb the aforementioned challenges, the leader came up with a long-term strategy to address the significant challenges. The first plan will address work ethics among members of the organization. A team leader with a good work ethic is devoted to the team’s aims and objectives and diligently adheres to established rules and norms. It is vital to accomplish the organization’s aims, team participation, and significant drive of team members. Members are motivated by the team leader’s devotion, honesty, and accountability since they perceive him as a role model. Therefore, the leader will encourage team participation when dealing with critical issues. The leader will also promote integrity among the team members and accept all team members as equal.
The second plan will address the trust issues among team members in the organization. A leader should give credit to team members for a job well done. Managers frequently convey their team’s work results to stakeholders or represent them at higher-level meetings (Bratton 31). Therefore, they must provide credit where credit is due and provide opportunities for the employees to thrive publicly. The leader will identify employees and foster an environment where employees feel comfortable providing feedback. Moreover, accountability is an essential aspect of an organization that helps build trust among members. The leader will provide a timetable that is editable by both employers and employees; hence everybody is held responsible for their actions.
The third plan will address the work environment among members of the organization. A workplace is defined as a setting where a person does their job, while an effective workplace is defined as one in which management-expected objectives can be attained. The physical environment in which a task is conducted can have a direct effect on performance. Particularly, the qualities of a room or meeting space for a company affect its productivity and degree of satisfaction. Therefore, the leader will provide adequate ventilation and lighting and ensure that all workers’ work environment is serene enough to prevent distraction. The leader must also prohibit all macroaggressions, which should be outlined in the organization’s rules and regulations. These aspects are critical to workers’ productivity and workplace pleasure.
Vision. The leader’s vision is to focus on long-term strategies to help curb significant challenges, including work ethics, trust among employees and management, work environment, and organizational culture. The leader also envisions that the organization will be among the best internationally, accommodating people from diverse cultures, races, and religions. Finally, the leader also visualizes that the organization will offer a regional and global platform for social interaction.
To conclude, for an organization to flourish successfully, a good leader should inculcate a change in the beliefs and values of its employees. On the contrary, when employees’ values and beliefs are not instilled, the organization can have numerous challenges that negatively impact its growth. Therefore, the leader and team members must identify impending challenges and impose an appropriate action plan. Such challenges can vary depending on numerous factors like organizational diversity. A good leader should be able to identify these challenges and address them before they affect the organization.
Works Cited
Al Khajeh, Ebrahim Hasan. “Impact of leadership styles on organizational performance.” Journal of Human Resources Management Research 2018 (2018): 1-10.
Bratton, John, ed. Organizational leadership. Sage, 2020.