Business scandals are always so fascinating. Whenever they occur, they reveal some of the worse characters are letting the world learn about big companies that go down to on their foot in the long run. Therefore, it is not a big deal to see one of the mightiest companies, WeWork, go down. This paper is an analysis of the company WeWork. It illustrates the events leading to the fall of the company and its leadership system.
Analysis 1
The Rise and Fall of WeWork
WeWork is a New York-based company started in 2010 by the two co-founders Adam and Neumann. They both work hard to grow it to a national and global brand. The company's corporate marketing is based on an ethos of entrepreneurialism. Their slogans are everywhere, covering all the walls or the rented WeWork Office spaces ("remarkable rise—and epic fall—of WeWork's charismatic, controversial founder Adam Neumann," 2019). The management has positioned the company not as an official provider but as a community. The company made its profits its high membership costs and crowding offices. WeWork has successfully managed to grow its base as a home to the new economy. Their office designs, amenities, and partnerships formed their strength in providing starter kits to entrepreneurs and small businesses seeking a place to work ("WeWork report," 2019).
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However, everything went wrong when the company went on the public to file a document for an initial offering of shares on the 14 th of August.
However, a few weeks later, the company's registration was under scrutiny at the securities exchange commission website following the malicious actions and activities of CEO Adam Neumann. Through his poor management skills and trail of loans, Adam brought down that aggressive work environment that he had initially worked for.
When the company model's questions arose, the company, through its management, was forced to cancel its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in September and do away with Neumann from his position as the chief executive officer before its value falling. There were questions about the role of its funders such as JPMorgan as well as the Japanese company Softbank as well as the personal enrichment of Neumann.
WeWork Leadership and Management.
The corporate governance of WeWork was the determinant of its stand in the market. The multi stock structure gave its CEO Neumann more power in its decision-making than the other stakeholders. He had the company's monopoly control because of the class B and class C shares that he owned. The other regular stakeholders would only get one Class A claim, something that powers Neumann. Even the attempts to reduce his share influence by amending S1 did not rescue the situation as he was still being criticized.
The leadership of the WeWork Company was all under the then CEO Adam Neumann. As the CEO, he had a fear of hiring people he thought were smarter than him. He believed he was more intelligent than everyone else and was always wanted to be elected the world's president to live forever. The intelligent people's fear and belief that he was the best person comprised the company's low performance as he was only hiring people who could not challenge his decisions (Bartling, 2019).
As the CEO, Adam did not engage employees in critical decisions making and their organization's strategic plans. A strong leader should ensure that every employee understands how their role fits into the organization and how they can realize its goals, objectives, and strategies. As the company's head, Adam failed to offer effective leadership with a well-developed idea and vision. There was no one to bring in living values to the employees that could influence them to achieve organizational goals.
Communication Patterns and Culture.
The management of the company does not fully demonstrate the importance of interpersonal communications. Despite the decision-making being based n shares, the CEO owns most of the shares, leaving him with the monopoly to dictate the company's moves and happenings. From the case study, he rarely consults. That was the root of the company's fall when he decided to involve himself with a long trail of loans, leading to criticism and eventually declining company production (Singer, 2018).
WeWork is operating clan culture like an organization. Ever since the company was intercepted, it has been running on the slogan "work hard, party hard" ethos while emphasizing the Party. From his fear of hiring smart people, Neumann employs people who can be loyal to his decisions. He has become the one in control of the company, a monopoly he enjoys from his shares ownership.
Consequences and Role of Media
Before the downfall, WeWork was already prepared to go public; the Wall street journal already went ahead and published an explosive article that painted a bad image on managing the co-working startup. The paper explicitly covers his life's most troubling stories, such as heavy drinking, marijuana consumption, and his habit of making his grandiose pronouncements.
If it were not for the publishing and existence of media, the underwriters would not notice the malicious contents of S-1, such as the corporate governance that gave the company CEO an outsized control over the voting shares. Through the media, their investor got discouraged from investing with the company, hence delaying the IPO release.
Analysis Part 2:
Management Theory, a Potential Solution to WeWork Company.
WeWork company challenges originate from the poor leadership styles exhibited by the management. For the problem to be solved, the organization must ensure that they adopt management concepts that can avail strategy tools that can be implemented. For instance, Change of leadership and Sensitivity training could be adopted as an organizational style of management. Since the WeWork Woes resulted from poor leadership from the top government, Neumann led, bringing in new blood to take charge would salvage it from going down its knees. Employees were used to the slogan, "Work and Party," which was not a result-oriented notion and did not by any means have a quantitative measurement for employees. Any changes in the management would bring a focused mood that will work strategically to re-design the organization's goals and work towards achieving them (Cecily, 2017).
Communication Theory
Similarly, WeWork should also adopt the Bureaucratic theory as a management communication style. The approach focus on the structure of an organization rather than its activities. WeWork needs a strategy that shall define what it aims for and aspire. The theory will ensure that the only driving force is not to finish work and go Party, rather a structure that has well-defined roles and target achievement.
Any companies require leadership competency that is focused on knowledge, skills, and abilities. WeWork company's performance needs interpersonal communication, enabling it to get immediate feedback in case of anything. Individual network work to the advantage of the company employees will be able to communicate with each other. The communication style will ensure that all the stakeholders understand the business's operations; hence, they own every situation. Every employee needs to know the goal, vision, and objectives of a company. For WeWork, all they knew was to work and Party, which in the long run, ended up derailing the performance of the company. If implemented, my style will ensure that all the parties are well informed and up to date. It will make sure the key investors have the company's right information different from the media.
Organizational Culture Theory
WeWork company, with its size and customer base, requires a bureaucratic culture type. It should be a norm that wells guide everyone in the company, set practice formalities, standard operating procedures, and rules (Cecily, 2017). All members should value standardized goods and services to attract their investors, unlike the current situation where they only work to go Party. When strict rules guide its operation, an individual like Neumann will not hold the company at ransom through his shares.
In the future, WeWork Company should organize for employees training on leadership skills and communication. Education should help them learn how to relate their company to their stakeholders. Also, the media should capture and relay information but only those that are verified to be true. They should even understand the impacts of any information that they leak to the public.
Analysis Part 3:
Nursing, as a career, is one of the critical professions. The case study shows how carelessness of individuals and lack of proper leadership can cost the whole organization their value and trust from clients. In the nursing profession, there are guiding principles that we have to adhere to at all times. It is essential within the nursing profession that everyone is trained in their areas of specialization. With the organizational style of management, as nurses, we will participate in policy design and development.
Nurses have a role in policymaking and advocacy rather than being the recipients and implementers of decisions. They must come out strongly as leaders with a strong voice in the development and reforms of policy. Through well-thought training programs, they get exposed to policy knowledge hence being able to specialize in the system. It is only possible through continuing educational opportunities.
Reference
Bartling, R. J. (2019). Hacking Architecture-The Future of Practice.
Cecily D. Cooper, Don Hellriegel, and John W. Slocum Jr.. (2017). Mastering Organizational Behavior . Boston, MA: FlatWorld
Crabb, J. (2020). Casper IPO shows WeWork's effect on valuations. International Financial Law Review .
Singer, A. A. (2018). The form of the firm: A normative political theory of the corporation . Oxford University Press, USA.
The remarkable rise—and epic fall—of WeWork's charismatic, controversial founder Adam Neumann . (2019, September 25). Fortune. https://fortune.com/2019/09/25/the-remarkable-rise-and-epic-fall-of-weworks-charismatic-controversial-founder-adam-neumann/
The WeWork report . (2019, April 2). CB Insights Research. https://www.cbinsights.com/research/report/wework-strategy-teardown/
