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Leadership &

Change Management

at Tesla Incorporation
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Task 1

Key Roles and Functions of Leaders

Leadership roles and functions vary as per the situation. For example, a leader is a coach when

he supports employees to help them succeed in their roles, he is a networker when he connects

people outside and inside the organization to strengthen relationships and grow business, he is a

communicator when he communicates with different people like employees, team members,

peers, co-workers, subordinates, clients, etc., he is a delegator when he assigns tasks and

responsibilities, he is a role model when he leads by example, he is strategist when he strategizes

ways to tackle the projects, he is a motivator when he motivates and inspires his team, and so on.

Evaluation of Key Leadership Theories

The key leadership theories are (Leadership Theories, n.d.):

The Great Man Theory assumes that leaders are born with certain characteristics and abilities

like charisma, confidence, intellect, social and communication skills, etc. to lead.

The Trait Theory asserts that inherent, inborn, and innate qualities and traits of a person make

him a leader. This theory is identical to the Great Man theory.

The Contingency Theory accentuates that there are various factors in a given situation that

determine the best-suited leadership style and that not a specific leadership style applies to all the

situations.

The Situational Theory again emphasizes that none of the leadership is superseded to others, and

it depends on the situation on hand, type of task, nature of followers, etc.

The Behavioral Theory focuses on certain leadership actions and behaviors rather than traits.

This theory suggests that leadership skills can be learned.

Analysis of Situational Leadership with Examples

There is no specific formula to adopt a certain leadership to be successful. It varies and depends

on what style works for the leader, people, organization, and situation. Such as Elon Musk is a

transformational leader as he is a changemaker to develop electric cars at Tesla. He is a

transactional and autocratic leader when he is always searching for problems in his products

because he has OCD on product-related issues. He is a charismatic leader when he motivates his

employees to fail (Miller, 2022). So, there is no hard and fast or consistent “right way” to lead

people. It varies according to the situation.

Task 2

Key Attributes and Personal Qualities to Effective Leaders

Effective leaders are self-aware as well as prioritize their self-development. They work on

developing their emotional intelligence. They are more resilient, adaptive, and consider criticism

as feedback from others. And then, they work on that feedback. They are also good listeners and

open to new changes and challenges in the organization (Sethuraman, and Suresh, 2014).

One of the key attributes and personal qualities of effective leaders is that they also focus on

developing others (Karia, and Asaari, 2019). They delegate, coach, and mentor others to be

situational leaders and handle important tasks. Strategic thinking, innovation, action, looking at

the big picture, and moving forward while considering the ethics of organization and society are

also some of the common attributes and qualities of effective leaders.

Moreover, they are also effective in their communication with employees as well as

acknowledge and respect the diversity and culture of employees and organization while

communicating and interacting (Black, 2015). Thus, Tesla Inc. should help its leaders build these

key attributes and personal qualities to be effective.

Different Leadership Behaviors

The traits and characteristics of a leader in the organization are termed as the leader’s behavior.

It is the behavior of the leaders that help them in guiding, directing, and influencing their team

and their work. Organizations thrive on their leaders’ behavior who utilize it to share a vision,

inspire team members, and make everyone more productive and effective (Yukl, 2012). So,

different leadership behaviors that make a leader effective and an organization productive are
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being honest and integral, confident in decisions, keeping communication channels open to be

approachable, providing objective feedback, addressing issues, leading by example, making a

decision, recognizing and rewarding employees on their achievements, changing the mindset of

employees how they approach work, motivating them, and paying attention to their needs to

accomplish them, and encouraging creativity (Ljungholm, 2014). These behaviors are vital for

leaders of Tesla as well to be more effective leaders.

Effectiveness of Style of Famous Leaders

Effective leadership styles depend on the ability of a leader to take charge of the situation,

circumstances, and environment, understand employees, organizational culture, and other

stakeholders, and adapt himself to suit the environment and adjust his leadership style

accordingly (Nanjundeswaraswamy, and Swamy, 2014).

Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, is a famously transactional leader who focuses on group

organization with a clear chain of command as well as the use of rewards and punishments as

transactions to motivate and influence his employees (Noddin, 2019).

Nelson Mandela, the great activist as well as the president of South Africa, supported the vision

of his community for a better future. His focus was on moral commitment to serve, lead the

change, and help community people to approach their full potential using his servant leadership

style (Noddin, 2019).

Warren Buffet, one of the most successful investors and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, has a

Laissez-Faire leadership style. He selects highly motivated and capable managers and employees

to empower them and offer them a great deal of autonomy to make them feel confident and make

decisions and handle work processes themselves (Noddin, 2019).

Task 3

Importance of Change management

Organizational change is vital and common these days. Many leaders today time to time make

changes in their organization to improve the performance and productivity of employees, to

succeed in the market, to grow their organization, etc. Thus, organizational change is about a

series of actions under which an organization alters a major organizational component which can

be in the form of culture, the infrastructure used in its operations, underlying technology, or any

other internal process (Jacobs, Van Witteloostuijn, and Christe‐Zeyse, 2013). Therefore,

effective change management in Tesla will help employees to better understand and commit to

the shift so that they can work accordingly and therefore, more effectively.

Stages of Change Management

According to Kotter's 8 Step Change Model, there are usually 8 stages of change management

(Auguste, 2013). These are creating a sense of urgency i.e., the leaders of the organizations need

to show the employees the importance of change and why it matters, building a core coalition

where leaders can create a stakeholder’s group from several sectors of the firm and have them

commit to assist in promoting changes in the company, developing a strategic vision to define

the change needed create a vision to accomplish it, involving everyone in the plan, reducing

obstacles, focusing on short-term wins where leaders create milestones for the workforce to

celebrate to keep them motivated, keeping the momentum going to continue setting new goals to

be fulfilled and adding stability.

Need for focus on People & Task Elements of Change initiatives

Since employees are the key assets as well as the backbone of the organization, it is crucial for

change leaders to focus on the people. It is because the change will be addressed and

implemented in the organization with the help of employees (Barrow, Annamaraju, and Toney-

Butler, 2017). Without taking them in confidence and without their involvement, the

accomplishment of set goals of change and desired organizational performance is not possible. In

doing so, the change management initiatives and activities are various games and exercises that

work as a motivation factor among employees to embrace the change and understand its value.

These change initiatives also reduce resistance to change.

References

Auguste, J., 2013. Applying Kotter’s 8-step process for leading change to the digital

transformation of an orthopedic surgical practice group in Toronto, Canada. J Health Med

Informat, 4(3), p.129.

Barrow, J.M., Annamaraju, P. and Toney-Butler, T.J., 2017. Change management.

Black, S.A., 2015. Qualities of effective leadership in higher education. Open Journal of

Leadership, 4(02), p.54.

Corporate Finance Institute. n.d. Leadership Theories. [online] Available at:

https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/careers/soft-skills/leadership-theories.

Jacobs, G., Van Witteloostuijn, A. and Christe‐Zeyse, J., 2013. A theoretical framework of

organizational change. Journal of organizational change management.

Karia, N. and Asaari, M.H.A.H., 2019. Leadership attributes and their impact on work-related

attitudes. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management.

Ljungholm, D.P., 2014. Transformational leadership behavior in public sector

organizations. Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice, 6(1), pp.76-81.

Miller, H., 2022. 4 Ways to Apply Elon Musk’s Leadership Style - Leaders.com. [online]

Leaders.com. Available at: https://leaders.com/articles/leadership/elon-musk-leadership-style.

Noddin, J., 2019. Discover These Leadership Styles of Famous Leaders. [online] Liquid

Learning. Available at: https://liquidlearning.com/blog/famous-leadership-styles.

Sethuraman, K. and Suresh, J., 2014. Effective leadership styles. International Business

Research, 7(9), p.165.

Yukl, G., 2012. Effective leadership behavior: What we know and what questions need more

attention. Academy of Management perspectives, 26(4), pp.66-85.