Leadership And Motivation Styles Of Tata Steel Management Essay

As we all know that the steel is an important item which implies the evolution and prosperity of any nation .The steel industry is basically a start-up for the development of any country .For an overall growth of India ,which is emerging as an expeditiously industrialized country ,it was very essential to accomplish the technological change in the making of iron and steel .Today ,some of the top nations which produces steel are developing countries .For instance ,China is one of the largest steel producing country in the world .India’s position is tenth as mentioned in Wilhelm 1998,Steel Scenario Yearbook,1998.India being a large deposit of iron-ore ,a low labor workforce ,highly qualified manpower resources but still it could not generate the required thrust in order to bring the technological changes.

Developing countries cannot always afford to build up or extend their own technologies .They need sometimes to bring technologies from other developed countries .The characteristics of socio-economic factors of India have greatly influenced the technological growth of the country in general .India turn out to be having a good technology base and also has developed a high level of adequate quality in the areas of information technology , atomic energy and space sciences.

In such case when India was emerging to be a developing nation, I would like to state about one of the leader whose leadership skills and motivation styles took India to great level of technology and growth and prosperity features.

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Jamsedji Nusserwanji Tata was one of the leader whose continuous innovations led India to develop a lot .He was born in a Parsi family on March 3,1839. At the age of 14,he came to Bombay and in 1868,at the age of 29,he started a private trading firm with a small capital of Rs 21,000.During this period ,he travelled a lot to various places which inspired in him the desire to set up a bankrupt oil mill and then he convert it into cotton mill where cotton goods were manufactured and was named as Alexander Mill. His continuous efforts and inspirations led him to develop and launch few mills which were supported by Indian shareholders. He was a unique personality .He not only thought about the innovative ways to manufacture textiles and gain profit from them but he also devised new labor practices which satisfied his employees .He always mentioned that it is not just his personal success but also for all those employees who have worked for him.

Jamshedji was such a nationalist who made significant remarks of the industrial revolution and came to the conclusion that the economic self-sufficiency should go hand in hand with political independence and thus he then made three important basic ingredients: the steel is very important and can be addressed as the mother of heavy industry; hydroelectric power was the cheapest energy to be generated and finally, the technical education.

A report on the rich iron ore deposits in India highly motivated him to set up a steel plant for the nation. He researched for years about the process of making the steel and also travelled to Europe and the US for technical advice from other revolutionary thinkers and nationalists .Due to his leadership skills ,he was able to set and start a steel plant. The Tata iron and Steel was formed in 1907,in Jamshedpur ,in Jharkhand. Also in 1892,he endowed an investment for deserving students for their higher education in abroad .He basically envisioned a national system of education and research institutes in the fields of science and technology ,medicine, philosophy and arts. Unfortunately ,he was not able to achieve all the three key ideas that he had in mind during his lifetime. The achievement he had was that he had completed Taj Mahal.

The Tata Iron and Steel Company grew rapidly and by 1911,its production increased up to 70,000 tons of iron per year .According to the Dictionary of National Biography ,the entire industry would support 60,000 workers and their dependents which was truly a high number. Jamshedji was renowned for his enthusiasm embrace innovations and use them not only to improve his business but also the lives of the Indian people. He was the first man in India to use rubber tires on his carriage and the first to drive an automobile in the Mumbai city. As the Dictionary of National Biography noted ,he characteristically showed ,”first, an extensive imagination and keen perception, next a scientific and calculating study of the project and all that is involved and finally a high capacity for organization .He was a man of simple values and perceptions and he scorned publicly or self-advertisement. Though he passed away by the time ,his spirits and efforts were carried forward by his son RD Tata and his cousin Dorabji.

Jamshedji was a man whose leadership skills and motivations styles made the plant established, and thought about the welfare of his employees. He not only envisioned a emphasized and dynamic workforce but he also envisioned a planned city with a lot of greenery around.

Leadership according to JRD meant motivating others, ‘ As a chairman ,my main responsibility is to inspire respect.’ According to JRD ,the quality had to match innovation. He repeatedly stressed , ‘ If you want excellence ,you must aim at perfection.’ The symbol ‘T’ has to be the symbol of quality .He was the man who was known for his renowned brand comprising the total quality of the Tata group.

Tata too believed in the positive Pygmalion effect towards his employees .He asked the question ,if the workers or employees were being treated exceptionally well, why were they frequently discontented and suspect and hostile towards the company? According to Tata, the viewpoint of any successful labor policy depends upon making the employees feel what they wanted. He was a man who continuously believed in the positive Pygmalion effect which led to a great extension of the Tata group with the help of all the motivated and inspired employees.

Thus Tata Steel became one of the earliest companies in India who had a dedicated human resources department. JRD was India’s most well- known industrialist, widely respected for his massive contribution to the development of Indian Industry and aviation in particular .Some of the leadership skills about JRD Tata can be stated as follows : approachable,realistic,charismatic,courageous,compassionate,supportive towards innovation ,aware of a sense of responsibility ,committed to values and a visionary .Jamshedji and Tata both proved themselves to be an authentic leaders and had set a vision for Tata group.

Tata Iron and Steel set up in 1907 comes under Tata group which is a private multinational firm with its headquarters at Mumbai .The present chairman is Ratan Tata who took over from JRD Tata in 1991.With the continuous efforts ,its operations covers many fields related to industry ,application engineering, information technology, communications ,materials,automotive,chemical energy ,telecommunications ,softwares, hotels,steel and consumer goods.

Mission:

The aim of the Tata Group is to improve the quality of life in the society by virtue of integrity ,understanding, excellence,unity and responsibility.

The Tata Group is 150 years old. It currently comprises 96 operating countries ,which together employed some 357,000 people worldwide and had enough revenues of US $ 72.5 billion (Feb 2009).It exports products and services to one hundred and forty nations. The Charitable trust of Tata holds 65.8% of the ownership of Tata Group. The production in Tata Steel actually started in 1912 and produces steel at the lowest cost in the world .In 1910, the Tata Hydro-electric Power Supply company was set up.

Today the extension of the Tata Group is really remarkable. Tata offers management,economic and financial services .It offers great services in investments and market shares.It is linked to consumer durables like tea ,watches ,gold, diamonds ; information and communication systems like TCS, Nelco,Tata Infotech, VSNL,Tatanet.

Current Financial Crisis:

Due to the global financial market crisis ,the demand in the steel and its related products has led a drop down.But Tata Steel has still expressed the tendency for the best possible outcome about retaining its position as one of the world’s largest steel makers. According to media reports ,in October 2008,company vice president ,Partho Sengupta claimed that Tata steel was deliberately well planned to handle the current financial crisis.

Awards and Achievements:

The Tata Steel was awarded Deming Application Prize in 2008 for ‘Total Quality Management’.

It is very clear that the leaders are very clear about what they are making and also very flexible about how it gets made. The leaders can make and remake organizations .Jamshedji and Tata were such leaders who were succeeded in embarking on brand building expedition and whose goal was to unify the distinct and diffuse enterprise . Tata brand has strengthen its leadership position on all parameters and those parameters includes knowledge of the business environment ,dynamism ,workplace quality ,quality of products and services ,consistency, reputation and renowned. The Tata Group can be called as a unique asset which represents Leadership with Trust. It provides complete management and financial resources to emerge and develop globally competitive skills to succeed in this endeavour. Tata has strong values where vision and mission comprises of ensuring growth and developing sustainable value to all stakeholders .It mainly focus on the culture of sustainability. It believes in collaboration means it believes in achieving success through teamwork ,within employees and partners. Its values composes of care or concern about the well -being of its employees and bettering its standards continuously with passion and pride.

According to Ratan Tata,in addition to good leadership and management,loyalty must be earned by managers and employees.He’s gentle,kind manner give rise to loyalty and yet he encourages his manager to make tough decisions.

I am highly inspired by the leadership skills and motivating styles of such great leaders who have really worked for the growth and prosperity of the nation.Their inspirational motivations associates them to commit to the vision of the organization which in turn had also encourage the employees to reach the goals. I firmly believe that their innovations and creativity had really a challenging effect on the normal beliefs of the people .They are the real leaders who had individual consideration with each of its associates which help them to reach goals of the organization .Today the Tata group is a renowned company which inspires confidence in its employees,encourage employees to volunteer to perform tasks and high employee satisfaction.This is the reason why the leading brand of Tata group is able to maintain its position and becoming better with its own authenticity .Today,Tata deals with its costumers worldwide countries like China,Japan,Malaysia,Singapore,France,Germany. It is very true that the teamworks within any organization helps businesses to overcome all kinds of problems whether it is internally or externally.Moreover,corporate teamwork covers the whole information on how people can expand their knowledge through teamwork and how teamwork helps organization build and grow.Tata is a globally growing company where employees keep emerging with their ideas of innovation.The big reason for this is the brand recognition of Tata.According to the Economist blogs,Tata has interests ranging from mineral water to steel.It has also become the symbol of India’s growing overseas.Its transformation into global scale is very large.

After analyzing this case study about the Tata Group including Tata Steel and about its leaders like Jamshedji ,JRD Tata, I can state about the discussion we had in week one in the class and also posted our discussions on the blackboard,that leadership cannot be taught.Leadership is the ongoing development process that builds through communication,experience and reflection.Strongest leaders are those who can inspire continuously their employees to keep on working even in their difficult times.Leaders need to have a vision, needs to be dynamic, have ability to change,listen to new perspectives, and apply those learnings to the long term vision of an organization.These were the true leaders who had strong communications with other people and keep on moving to develop the company and spread the Tata group worldwide.They were very determined leaders.

These leaders sets an example for others .I would like to mention about some factors which should be taken by the present senior leaders and chairman of the Tata group in order to maintain the position consistently of this brand organization across the globe.First,”The tendancy to quickly form an opinion of the people based on the first information we receive about them”,(McShane and Von Glinow,p.82),The second factor can be, “When we believe other people have the same beliefs and behaviors as we do”, (McShane and Von Glinow,p.82).One factor can be stated here which implies on the personal experiences which these leaders had ( Jamshedji,JRD Tata) by travelling through various countries as ,” Reflects a competitive versus cooperative view of relations with other people ,” (McShane and Von Glinow,p.48).In addition to understanding such components of leadership styles which should be taken into consideration,there is also need of maintaining the understanding of motivation levels within a company.It can be drawn as a conclusion as any business platform which is supported by various countries can be a challenge from both leadership and motivation perspectives and it is very important to ensure that both the aspects are tailored to specific needs of the culture.