The Creation of Sony

The key towards the prosperity of any organization lies in the competency exhibited by its existing leadership structures. Immense studies have been accomplished concerning the central position played by leadership in any entity. As such, a standard conceptualization insinuates that effective leadership is a strong precursor towards better organizational performance. To make success a surety, organizational leadership is linked to various success factors, for instance, creating a positive organizational environment and a sustainable culture that cultivates competitive results. Upon the failure or success of any company, the aspect most often scrutinized is leadership. The agenda of this task is to scrutinize the role effective leadership played during the creation of Sony. Sony is currently a strong international brand, which its success can only be attributed to the strong foundation laid by its founding members. This discussion will be diving deeper to analyze the personal leadership attributes of Ibuka and Morita, the two founders of modern day corporate giant, Sony.
Leadership Competencies
The notion that leaders are born or self-made remains a debatable aspect among various camps of scholars. However, whether or not one is born a leader, effectiveness only manifests when one shows a set of leadership skills that separates him or her from the rest of the pack. From a general overview, the core values linked to leadership include but are not limited to drive, emotional and intellectual intelligence, self-confidence, and integrity.

As conceptualized by Folkman (2010), the drive is compound leadership value which encompasses aspects such as motivation, ambition, energy and tenacity. A separate study accomplished by Pagon, Banutai and Bizjak (2008, p.4) shows that leadership competencies can be outlined under three major categories; cognitive, functional and personal/social. Under cognitive category, some of the favorable leadership attributes include divergent and critical thinking, problem-solving capabilities, and strategic thinking. Under the functional category, the most important skills touch on language and communication, learning abilities, technological skills, and decision-making skills. The personal/social category comprises aspects such as integrity, teamwork skills, and compassion for others. Consequently, Condon (2011) emphasizes on self-awareness and emotional intelligence as some of the significant elements that need to be considered when discerning an effective leader. The ability to showcase unique leadership values is what defined the success of Ibuka and Morita at Sony.
Sony thrived because of the diverse leadership capabilities that Ibuka and Morita exhibited. The ability to combine their strengths together catapulted Sony towards the path of economic enlightenment. Clearly specified in the case study, Sony thrived due to two major facets, which are, technological vision and market astuteness. Each leader with his competencies is linked to each of the facets. Unlike Morita, Ibuka was born a technological visionary and inventor. His core competency was over the edge technological capabilities. Ibuka was responsible for the technological geniosity that thrived at Sony. Besides this, Ibuka was also motivating. He pushed all his employees within the mechanical labs to be innovative and work towards optimizing their best results. As such, under the docket of project management, Ibuka showed the values of team building, technical credibility, and accountability. Concerning program management, Ibuka exhibited partnering capabilities and creativity. Ibuka was old enough. Thus, his approach to most issues was mature.
On the other hand, Morita is regarded as a marketing wizard. While Ibuka was working to develop outstanding products, Morita was busy introducing Sony as a force to reckon with to most parts of the developed world. Under leading organizations, Morita had strategic thinking and entrepreneurship capabilities. He was focused on the long-term prospects of making Sony an international brand, a move that has ultimately paid off. As a business geek, other leadership qualities portrayed by Morita was financial management and problem-solving capabilities. Combining the efforts of Ibuka and Morita, it is evident that both leaders had high personal integrity, the drive to succeed and showed emotional intelligence (EI). As conceptualized by Condon (2011), a leader who exhibits EI factors in the welfare of his/her employees. Both Ibuka and Morita were excellent at these aspects.
Charismatic Leadership at Sony
Charismatic leadership accounts for the outstanding individual capabilities that make an organization move forward (DuBrin, 2016). A good example for such a leader within the corporate world is Jack Welsh from General Electric. According to Northouse (2016), charismatic leaders encourage their followers through outstanding personality, strong persuasion power and ability to communicate effectively. The Martin Luther King speech of ‘I have a dream’ is a perfect example of effective, charismatic leadership skills. According to Biviano (2000), charismatic leadership is a unique management style that ensures that the set targets are achieved by seductively stimulating followers. This similar aspect is also shared by Takala (2005) who highlights the aspect of impression management to motivate followers. The success of charismatic leaders as explored by Mchane (2015) is dependent on their ability to display certain values. Charismatic leaders need to be motivation, emotionally and intellectually intelligent, show high integrity and honesty, and exhibit high self-confidence. The latter factor is very important because charismatic leaders act as role models for most of their followers (McShane et al. 2013).
Narrowing down Sony, Ibuka first exhibits charismatic leadership. Ibuka’s personal strength is that he was brilliant with regards to developing outstanding products, but also considered the welfare of those below him. Ibuka’s ambition as seen in the case study was not solely to build products for his but also develop it as an outstanding company. As such, remaining motivational and encouraging the junior engineers under his watch to be innovative was one of the ways to make sure that Sony secured a bright future. Leadership traits that qualify Ibuka as a charismatic leader include being motivational, acting a role model to his followers, good interpersonal skills, and perfect oral communication skills. Even though the case study does not present some of the speeches delivered by Ibuka, it states that he strived to create a conducive environment that spurred positivity among his followers. To accomplish that, a leader must be able to communicate well and bridge the proximity gap between him and his followers.
As Ibuka’s young partner, Morita also exhibited charismatic leadership. Unlike his partner, Morita spends his young life being nurtured by his father for the corporate world. The benefits of Morita accompanying his father/mentor to most of the meetings instilled in him the appropriate leadership traits to survive the competitive corporate world while remaining appealing to one’s followers. Based on the case study, Morita’s prowess in the field of marketing is the great reason why Sony is a household name. Primary business knowledge indicates that one cannot be an effective marketer without good communications skills. As such, Morita’s core aspect is that he was an effective communicator. Morita was 13 years younger than Ibuka but the fact that he convinced him to form a partnership that worked out is reason enough to showcase his negotiating skills. From a general overview, both of the leaders embraced positive, charismatic characters, an undertaking that results in the Sony that is successful today.
Elements of Transformational Leadership at Sony
By adhering to its name, the functional agenda of this leadership style is to transform employees to fit a targeted organizational ultimatum. According to Northouse (2016), the basis of transformational leadership style is having managers exhibit a charismatic approach. The above discussion acknowledged the fact that charismatic leaders thrive based on their ability to convince their followers. As such, transformational leaders have to portray charismatic traits to convince organizational members to think in a certain manner. Using the work of Bloom (2005, 2011) and Smith (2011), Middleton (2015, p. 155) indicates that;
The Sanctuary Model, a trauma-informed organizational intervention, promotes many elements of the transformational style of leadership, especially the elements of inspiration, optimism, encouragement, honesty, motivation, respect, team-orientation, effective communications, empowerment, reliability, trustworthiness, and empathy.
As such, the two co-founders of Sony did not fail in showcasing their transformational elements in their leadership to steer the company to where it is today.
Ibuka exhibits the best transformational element at Sony leadership. He was the person in charge of designing the products that put Sony as a top contender in the electronics world. To make sure that the same fete continued, the best approach forward was to nature the available talent. As summarized by the work of Middleton et al. (2015), transformational leadership puts into perspective necessary elements that guide a leader into acting motivationally to his or her followers. Besides this, Morita was also dedicated to making Sony a strong corporate outfit. This is best categorized with his statement directed towards Bulova insinuating “Fifty years from now, I promise you that our name will be just as famous as your company name today.” (McShane et al. 2013, p.431). This is an indication that Morita was willing to commit to making Sony a great company admired by many.
Conclusion
Leadership remains a decisive factor in the success of any organization. As such, any organizational output is proportional to leadership effectiveness, a comprehensive conceptualization that describes the case of Sony. The present day success of Sony is directly attributed to the leadership prowess that was displayed by the two founders, Ibuka and Morita. As largely covered in the discussion, Ibuka and Morita showcased exceptional leadership competencies that made them favorites among their followers. Regardless of having the age difference factor, their mutual respect for each other and ability to collaborate made success a surety. It also made them role models to junior members at that particular time. By showcasing exceptional qualities such as good interpersonal skills, eloquent communication abilities, highly intellectual and have self-confidence, the two leaders are rated as charismatic, an aspect that made them transformational leaders. Their success is evidence as to why the present day Sony should continue adhering to the motivational leadership style. With such an initiative, leaders get to mold employees by making them think and act in a certain way. Despite the time difference, transformational leadership is still a significant success issue for Sony.

References
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