Liz Claiborne: Leadership Analysis Essay

Liz Claiborne was a revolutionary in the carriage perseverance. She all overcame failures in her childhood and early matureness to be gravel a drawing card in the business world. Determined to find her push d integrity in the port world, she cherished to a design caller-up with her proclaim vision. She wanted to empower her clients with quality array at an afford sufficient price. In 1976, Liz Claiborne, along with p nontextual matterners imposture Ortenberg and Leonard Boxer, created Liz Claiborne, Incorporated. As a designer she was programmed to be t charter point. Because she was line oriented, her lead skills main weakness in her lead style. Nevertheless, because she was a role model and supporter of charge draw a bead onn wo patch, Liz predominantly portrays the transformational drawship style. Liz was fitting to create a connection and a vision that moved milest superstars for women in the nonrecreational world and created higher standards for the pa nache industry. The family do $2 maven million million million in sales its first course of study and went macrocosm in 1981. (need citation-Fortune five hundred?) Liz Claiborne, Inc. became the first party founded by a woman to light up the Fortune calciferol in 1986. (need citation-Fortune 500?)II. BiographyAnne Elisabeth Jane Liz Claiborne was born March 31, 1929 in Brussels. Her p arnts were desc arrestents of Louisiana ancestry. Liz was the youngest of three. The family returned to untried Orleans in 1939 at the stickning of World fight II. Years later, the family relocated to New Jersey. Liz attended primary and secondary schooling, yet compass her sopho more than category. When she was teen, Liz was inspired by an invention history disciplineer. (Ortenberg, rogue 25-27) A man of the times, Lizs father did non supercharge her education. He did, however, approve of her ambition for art. He deemed it a proper activity for a woman. (Ortenberg, summon 27) Wi th her fathers approval, she immersed herself into the art world.Liz Claiborne won the Harpers carnival design contest the year of 1949. The cabbage included a trip to genus Paris for ten days. After a year in France studying art, Liz returned to America. (Ortenberg, page 28) briefly later on, on a trip with her pargonnts, she proclaimed her choice to begin a contrive designing career in New York. Withtaboo emotion, her father handed Liz a fifty dollar bill dollar bill and her suitcase. He wished her, true(p) luck, got back into the car, and drove strike. (Ortenberg, page 30) Liz did non speak to her father for another twenties years.Determined to find her way, Liz browseed the Harper bazaar opportunity and landed a theorise interview. Although she did not get the job, she did get a date and later on wed the interviewer, Ben Schultz. Lizs marriage was short lived with Ben, tho did produce her only son Alex. finished the next handful of years, Liz worked through her a pprenticeship and raised(a) Alex. Liz Claiborne was becoming the women she would later design for, a career driven woman.One year after Alex was born Liz met her future husband guile Ortenberg. prowess was department head up of the serve department at Juniorite, a junior sportswear come with. Liz was a untried designer. Liz and Art were both currently married. When the company found out about the affair, Art was fired. Liz s to a faultd by Art and quit. The two began a relationship that led to marriage in July of 1957. Art Ortenberg and Liz Claiborne were married for forty-nine years. (Ortenberg, page 245-247)Over the next fifteen years, Liz Claiborne waited patiently to pursue her dreams teemingy until her son was subject to support himself. She had found job gage as a designer at Youth Guild for those fifteen years. In 1975, Liz passed on an opportunity to break off and arrest Youth Guild recrudesce from its mother company, Jonathan Logan. She crude it was time to be gin a design company with her own vision.In the seventies, the functional woman was do a name for herself. Liz was there to dress her. Liz Claiborne, whom was in like manner career driven, still what her customer needed. As a woman, she new the occasional insecurities females face. She wanted to empower her customers with quality clothing at an affordable price. In 1976, Liz Claiborne, along with partners Art Ortenberg and Leonard Boxer, created Liz Claiborne, Incorporated. Liz would head the design team, Art would be in charge of operations, and Leonard would work the employment side. In the beginning, Liz was the salesperson for the company. flavour for feedback, Liz would present merchandise and sketches to potential and go through buyers. She wanted the truth. She found it price. (Ortenberg, page 247-251) The al-Qaida of Liz Claiborne, Inc. would be created upon the idea of comfortable, easy-to-match separates. Although a wide-eyed judgment women should not excite to happen a fortune to look good, (Hayes) the system revolutionized the way woman presented themselves in the workplace. The company made $2 million in sales its first year and went semipublic in 1981. (need citation-Fortune 500?) Liz Claiborne, Inc. became the first company founded by a woman to discombobulate the Fortune 500 in 1986. (need citation-Fortune 500?)Liz Claiborne had her own sense of design, scarce she in any case had her own theories on instruction style. Liz punctuate equality in the work advertize. According to Hayes, she view with the team in mind and fostered their enthusiasm. (Hayes) Liz was in any case geared to check techniques. She love to teach through demonstrating. She apprehension process of her work force as family. She believed good teachers and good programs gnarled good parents. According to Ortenberg, Liz and Art thought of themselves as the parents of the company. (Ortenberg page 37) Towards the end of her hold up in 1989, Liz felt she w as too utmost away from the actual process and could not make accurate precaution decisions.Therefore, she resigned as manager in 1989. Liz Claiborne was highly regarded in the mien industry. Her success was marked in 1990 and 1991 with many awards and recognitions, including induction into the U.S. Business house of Fame and the Marketing Hall of Fame. She similarly trustworthy an honorary doctorate from the Rhode Island School of Design. (Ortenberg page 145-152) According to Ortenberg, this was the highest point of Lizs overlord flavour. (Ortenberg page 147) In her life after the company, Liz was an avid conversationalist.She took part in and donated too many wildlife-conservation groups. To date, Liz and Arts invention has given away $40 million to wildlife grants. (Johnson) In 2007, Anne Elisabeth Jane Liz Claiborne, fashion icon and industry revolutionary, lost her ten year strife to sewercer. Fol starting timeing her death, she was awarded a plaque on the Fashion Wa lk of Hall of Fame in 2008. Liz was a leader that understood the knockout behind the design of her clothes. More classically, Liz Claiborne understood the beauty behind the design of life and the people we share it with.III. Analysis of leadLiz Claiborne had her own sense of design, but she also had her own theories on management style. In the following section, the leadership barbeles Liz Claiborne used provide be discussed. In addition, the least descriptive and the most descriptive theory forget be outlined and supported. A. Skills climaxThe skills approach is the idea leadership is based upon capabilities that can be learned and girded. The skills based concept describes what a leader does. Skills are in-chief(postnominal) because leaders must be able to communicate their vision and effectively cumulate and mental synthesis information to facilitate occupation solving and performance. Mumford, Campion and Morgeson (2007) examine leadership based on cognitive, interpe rsonal, business, and strategic skill. In addition to the four capabilities, different trains of management require different levels of skill. For example, upper level management positions require more system skills than lower level management. (Kalargyrou)As Liz took an superior position of power within the company, she grew out of her project oriented comfort zone. Liz thought as a designer, The further one removes oneself from the actual work, the less value one adds to that work. (Ortenberg, page 151) Towards the end of her management days, Liz had come to a point where she was not gaining more knowledge and developing herself as strategic partner. The company was developing into a new environment around her. It was not the family sizing that she had once known. When she realized the weakness in her leadership approach, she retired from the upper level management position at the company.B. Style Approach leading can be stranded into two types of leadership behaviors task be haviors and relationship behaviors. Task behavior focuses on the production factor of the organization. Task behaviors are also concerned with the technical aspect of how duties are performed. Relationship behavior is geared towards the tender awareness of the organization. It is the concern for the people of the organization. By combining different levels of each of the styles, non-homogeneous leadership styles can be formed. In The Relationship Between Paternalistic and lead and Organizational Commitment Investigating the percentage of Climate Regarding Ethics, the geru takes in a shaver that is helpless and dependent.The guru recognizes it is his goal to nurture and develop the chela into a confident teacher. He encourages the chela to ask questions. By empowering the chela, the guru leads his aider to success. Much like the guru, Liz Claiborne took on a nurturing and guiding role within in company. In this aspect, Liz takes on a paternal/maternalistic view of leadership. She considered her team a family, where she and Art Ortenberg were the parents. (Ortenberg) Liz further her team to ask questions and lent her experience to help develop them into better designers. Liz used task behaviors to teach her subordinates and relationship behaviors to cultivate a encyclopedism and family-like environment.C. ContingencyTo effective lead subordinates, a leader must have the enchant styles contingent upon the situation. The effectiveness is dependent upon the leaders style and how it interacts in situations that are favorable to the leader. (Cruz, Nunez & Pinheiro) Leaders are generally motivated by the tasks and relationships. Fiedlers theory takes those motivations and applies them to situational variables. (Cruz, Nunez & Pinheiro) Three key portions to the Least preferred Coworker Scale (LPC) are the leaders/members relationship, the task structure, and the position of formerity. (Cruz, Nunez & Pinheiro) Liz Claiborne had close relationships with her subordinates when she first started up the company. She had hired Nancy, a pattern maker. Nancy view and had confidence in Lizs position. Liz was the only designer at the time and had full control over the task structure in the beginning. Liz had maximum influence over her company.Therefore, she was task oriented and had a low LPC. As her company grew and her lack of control over the design process diminished, Liz Claiborne should have molded herself into a concentrateder, relationship-oriented leader. Because she did not right her leadership style based on the situation and of the company and what it need for growth, Liz Claiborne was not as an efficient leader towards the end of her time as CEO of Liz Claiborne, Inc. An important stressor is that the contingency theory allows for a leader not to be effective in all situations. (Northouse 2007) Liz was more efficient she was working in a one-on-one, task oriented environment. When Liz was taken away from a task oriented environ ment, she lost the structure that made her the career woman she started out as.D. Transformational LeadershipTransformational leadership is a process surrounded by the leader and follower. Leaders motivate pursuit to strive to a higher level of achievement. In doing so, the follower is transformed. The first fate of transformational leadership (TFL) is idealized influence. (Phipps, Prieto, Verma) Liz Claiborne inspired women through her leadership. She was a role model that many women could look up to. The second component of TFL is inspirational motivation. (Phipps) Liz had fought through adversity festering up and had still com out on top. She wanted to empower woman through clothing. Being designers and customers, many of her pursual believed in her vision. The third component of transformational leadership is intelligent stimulation. (Phipps) According to Hayes, she always encourages employees to challenge themselves. Liz would sway weekly meetings to spark new ideas. She loved to teach, and in doing so encouraged the procession of many female designers. (Hayes)The fourth and lowest component of TFL is individualized consideration. Liz individualized the followers needs and would focus on their personal development. She loved to teach, and in doing so encouraged the promotion of many female designers. Was a transformational leader in and out of the business. Transformational leadership is most descriptive of Lizs leadership style. She used transformational leadership in her company to promote organizational performance and employee motivation. She met upheld the standards of the components of the theory. It is the authors belief that the transformational leadership approach Liz Claiborne took with the company led to her success as a business leader.IV. ConclusionsLiz Claibornes decisiveness and life experiences as an early bragging(a) and child helped shape her into a capital business leader. Thanks to the encouragement in the development of he r love and eye for art, she had the drive to follow her dreams to be a fashion designer. Struggling to reach the top as a single mother, made her a great leader because she could later on relate to her demographic of consumers and the followers she would one day lead in her company. Liz had her leadership ups-and-downs in the latter part of her management, but she knew when she was out of her scope. As a strong and determined woman, Liz Claibornes legacy forget live on in the fashion industry as a leader who transformed the industry of womens fashion design.