Leadership Effectiveness In The Business World Commerce Essay

There exist different leaders with disparities in disposition, conceptualization as well as leadership styles. Leaders are meant to provide guiding vision in professional as well as personal matters. A competent leader should exude integrity which encompasses maturity, self knowledge or even candor. Being daring allows a leader take risks of experimenting with new things thereby getting new insights and ideas from the errors incurred. A leader of moral reasoning and futuristic destiny drives institutional growth to greater heights (Davis and Shrander 2007, 96).

This document discusses the different leadership strategies as portrayed from Ray Davis leadership in an attempt steer Umpqua bank to higher profitability levels. Ray Davis leadership style can best be described as authentic, focused and transformational. He took over the leadership of South Umpqua bank and utilized creative philosophies as well as unique leadership disciplines in expanding South Umpqua bank operations, thus making the bank profitable, agile as well as customer’s satisfaction oriented. For him leadership has translated to growth. His leadership style is a clear demonstration that creating a competitive advantage will lead to exceptional growth to any institution. Being an authentic leader, Davis genuine desire to empower other people has been demonstrated.

Chapter II: Findings and Discussion

Transformational leadership

Ray Davis has indeed provided positive change in the management of Umpqua bank making the bank amongst the most profitable institution of the times. Through the radical changes introduced in the banking industry, the institution has transformed into a multibillionaire entity with more than 120 branches spread throughout the state. Ray Davis has largely focused in transforming the lives of people through the establishment of accountability forums where the employees are encouraged to look at the interests of each other while contributing to the general well being of the entire institution. For instance, when Ray Davis took over the management of the bank in the fiscal 1994, the number of employees was about 60 people in Oregon which is an economically depressed region. This scenario has since been transformed with a record 1800 employees spread across the over 120 branches of the bank in Oregon, northern California as well as in Washington. Over the past twelve years relentless growth has been exhibited in this once little known financial institution having been transformed into a highly traded public company (Woodward 2003, 2). The transformational leadership strategy utilized by Ray Davis has propelled the growth which has seen the bank feature in prominent financial matters publications like Fast Company, CNBC as well as in the Business week.

Through the personality aspects and traits of Ray Davis, he has managed to create change through the vision and goals he set out to achieve. The influence that Ray Davis has had on his followers is massive due to the charisma, individual consideration as well as the intellectual arousal he exudes. A key pointer to the transformational leadership strategies demonstrated by Ray Davis, lie in his ability to identify and implement new opportunities in the banking industry. For example, when he took the helm of the bank he made it a rule for the tellers to reckon the slogan “World Greatest bank” whenever they answered their client’s phones. This move was frowned over by the competitors in the banking industry but massive benefits have been exhibited and indeed South Umpqua bank is amongst the best banks in the world. Ray Davis is listed amongst the top influential people who have made massive strides in the financial industry. Getting out of the status quo of the banking industry led to alter the environment with a growth of about 30 times being exhibited at the bank.

Ray Davis has offered individualized considerations to his followers through acting as a mentor to the employees and close associates to his business. Through giving support and empathy and support, other people have had a chance to emulate him as they are given an opportunity for self improvement and development (Sperry 2002, 86). Ray Davis appreciates any individual contribution made by the juniors thus enabling an intrinsic motivation of ones tasks to develop. There are times when the executives had to change direction in the implementation procedures on the institution’s strategic plans. Ray Davis says that in such instances, he does not admonish their decisions but rather encourage them as they take their time to research on the implications of starting such an initiative at the time. The executives were able to question the assumptions which might have been overlooked and they thereby managed to have a deeper understanding of the strategic implications of such decisions. Through transformational leadership, Ray Davis has been able to break away from traditional rivals in the industry thus giving value to the shareholders, employees as well as to customers. Ray Davis has intellectually stimulated his executive team by encouraging creativity in their thinking. For instance, some branch managers have dog bowls at the entrances to cater for clients with pets. They even go way-out to open lobbies for community events.

Managerial Capacity

Ray Davis has demonstrated managerial aspects in his leadership as the output of the bank has been maximized owing to his administrative implementation procedures. Managerial tasks like organization, planning, controlling as well as staffing which Ray Davis has undertaken with the assistance of the executive team of the bank have steered the bank into profitability. As a manager he has done things right through following the stipulated procedures and company policies. Ray Davis says he is not predictable and he possesses a rare sense of urgency. Through open communication, tasks get done quickly. He does not communicate through emails and memos rather he prefers to get in touch with concerned parties via phone calls (Engen, 2009).

As a manager who embraces delegation, Davis makes himself accessible to even the lowest ranking employees of the institution hence the reason why he does not follow the stipulated chain of command. For example, Ray handles people directly whether it’s the frontline associate, store manager situated in California or even senior VP heading operations at the headquarters. His staff joke that all the priorities of Ray Davis come at first position especially if they cause even the slightest difference. Executives of the company have experiences of how Ray Davis was relentless about their failure to address a client’s problem. Through record keeping, Ray Davis is able to keep track of the customers’ queries and determine whether they have been addressed by the concerned parties. These managerial concepts help in building customer loyalty thus translating to added financial gains to the institution.

Implicit Capacity

Ray Davis has openly demonstrated to the employees, shareholders and other stakeholders of the bank that indeed he is a leader and a force to reckon with in the banking industry. He acts as a fully responsible person by being autonomous as well as highly independent during task completion. He is not press0urized to act in accordance to the laid down stipulations of requirements of a CEO of a financial institution. For instance, managers need be stable so as not to distract the functioning of the employees but Ray Davis is so unpredictable. He lets people see him even in social environment. During company picnics, he is never detached from other staff in fact he demonstrates this by cooking hamburgers. He loves having fun and demonstrates that even CEOs enjoy having good time as well.. For instance, when the young executives were designing the Portland’s District store, he was filled with feelings of gratitude and massive appreciation such that he didn’t want to distract them. He does not bottle-up feelings, but rather remain assertive enough thus he is not inscrutable. A very controversial creation of Davis Ray is referred to as “Universal Associate program” whereby every employee of the bank is trained in all banking operations. Thus instances of employees claiming to be incompetent are not evidenced (Hesselbein and Shrander 2008, 126). For example, a teller can make a mortgage application on behalf of the client.

Ray Davis Competencies

The competency of Ray Davis is evident as the profitability of the bank has increased as leading to the achievement of an envisioned future to the financial institution. Through his wisdom, he pioneered massive changes in the banking industry by making the Umpqua bank turn to a dynamic and innovative institution. The quality of management and the type of services and products developed by the bank demonstrate high levels of competency. During the 2010 Portland business luncheon, Umpqua Bank was among the most recognized companies in Oregon. It is also ranked amongst the best companies to work with. Throughout the tenure of Ray Davis at Umpqua bank, he has been a source of inspirational leadership to his followers and even to various customers. The kind of culture which Ray Davis has managed to create is geared towards serving the customers adequately (Sperry 2002, 174). When the customers are satisfied then this ultimately translates into added profits. Through consistently communicating optimism regarding future goals, Ray Davis has managed to provide immerse energy to drive the bank forward. He says he largely concentrated on making the bank significant to the lives of the all the stakeholders. In his tenure, Umpqua Bank has become a financially stable and trustworthy enterprise which will continue to grow even as new leaders are given the mandate to head it.

Chapter IV: Recommendation and Conclusion

Ray Davis leadership discipline and creativity has not been pegged on selfish gains but there an endeavored move to impact the institution’s prosperity. He has created a competitive advantage in the bank by installing projects and service delivery mechanisms which foster customer loyalty. Through building a pool of committed employees who are given the mandate to undertake tasks which are deemed productive to the institution, vital growth is guaranteed. Through transformational leadership, Ray Davis has fought the syndromes which make people to fall back into ancient business routines which are not productive. If Ray decides to go global in future, then there id dire need to strategically plan for the unbecoming effects associated with cords-cultures.