Managing and Leading Interactive Technological change

Master Thesis

Managing and Leading

Interactive Technological change

A literature review

“Employee-participation in the changing world of technology”

by Steven Reuver

University of Groningen Faculty of Economics and Business

MSc Business Administration – Change Management

June 2015

Supervisor: I. Maris

Mutua Fidesstraat 18a 9741 CB Groningen s.a.h.reuver@student.rug.nl

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CONTENT

technology-business strategy alignment... 11

Organization-customer communication ... 15

Purchase related processes ... 18

Managing employees... 20

Participative management ... 20

Involving employees in decision making ... 22

Motivation of employees ... 24

Development and communication of a ‘technology’ vision... 27

Leadership ... 29

Leadership versus management ... 29

What means being a leader? ... 30

Effective leadership ... 32

Case studies ... 34

Case Study 1: Tesco ... 34

Case Study 2: Philips ... 35

Case Study 3: Apple ... 36

Discussion and conclusion ... 37

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ABSTRACT

With the introduction of the internet, organizations are nowadays confronted with changing their

technology to stay competitive. These technological changes have to be managed and reviewing previous literature, this paper will develop a framework where the technology and the employees are central dimensions which will be used in finding ways to more effectively manage the technological change. Incorporating the concept of transformational leadership, the influence on the two central dimensions of managing technology and employees and the impact on resisting to change. Cases from existing

organizations and their changes will be used to show in practice how these organizations dealt with their specific technological change and their contributions to this research.

Keywords

Technological change, leadership, participative management, resistance to change

INTRODUCTION

Most technological changes involve resistance to change, expressed through the behavior of organizational members who refuse to accept a particular change in the organization (Kumar Basu, 2015). When it involves a change that affects a whole organization, it involves large-scale intervention from senior management, that affect all dimensions of the organization, with the long-term goal of increasing the performance of the entire organization (Kumar Basu, 2015). A technological change that involves the whole organization is reviewed from a change management perspective within this paper, where the retail industry will be used as an example throughout this research. Reason for this is that technological innovations have played a major role in shaping the retail landscape of the time. Today, a wave of interactive technologies, many of which are enabled by the Internet, are forcing retailers to rethink the way they do business (Pavlou and Stewart 2000; Stewart and Pavlou 2002) and previous literature on interactive technologies, Varadarajan et al. (2010) focused their research on explaining the effects of interactive technologies on consumers, retailers’ capabilities and on business models. With respect to adoption of interactive technologies by customers, prior research has for instance examined various factors, including the attitudes and experiences of customers with an interactive technology (Reinders, Dabholkar, and Frambach 2008), their cognitive styles (Simon and Usunier 2007), the impersonal characteristics of the interactive technology (McCartan-Quinn, Durkin, and O'Donnell 2004), transaction uncertainty (Pavlou, Liang, and Xue 2007), building institutional trust (Pavlou and Gefen 2004), and the

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These interactive technologies are the ‘new’ technologies of today and can be generally viewed as a technology that enables customers to interact with retailers or organizations in general. Where the technology entails the methods, tools or devices that facilitate this interaction, which includes internet-enabled technologies that convert inputs (information about consumers' preferences) into outputs (information about product offerings, product offerings etc.) (Varadarajan et al., 2010). This paper focuses on these internet-enabled technologies, due to the importance of the internet today.

RESEARCH AIM AND OBJECTIVES

Concluding from this earlier research, there is a clear lack of a management perspective within the literature on technological change. From this management perspective, this problem will review the technology-dimension (and their effects) and the participative-dimension of employees. Reason for also reviewing the participation of employees is that focusing on just managing the technology could be ineffective because although vast

resources are devoted to the technical aspects of innovation, implementation failure is largely attributed to “people issues” rather than technical errors (Rizzuto and Reeves, 2007).

These dimensions of managing technology and managing employees are very broad (consisting of many properties), therefore specific properties are used to discuss both dimensions in more detail. These individual properties occurred most often in literature on technological change or organizational change in general and therefore part of this literature review.

Starting with managing technology, the following properties will be discussed; 1) the alignment of technology with the business strategy (Reksoatmodjo et al. 2012; Tarafdar & Qrunfleh, 2009), 2) communication between organization and customer (Hoffman & Novak, 1996) and 3) purchase related processes (Yaday & Varadarajan, 2005).

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“Transformation is critical for any organization to succeed, and technology-enabled change has become a widespread means of improving responsiveness to competition and customer satisfaction. In the current climate of economic uncertainty, the imperatives that are instrumental in pushing organizations to consider transformation include innovation, business agility to adapt to external changes efficiently and effectively, the alignment of information technology (IT) and business strategy, and global demand and support for new ideas and new opportunities. The critical success factor for such initiatives lies in effective leadership to manage the changes associated with both people and processes” (Kumar

Basu, 2015).

This perception by Kumar Basu (2015) introduced the concept of leadership that indicates an important connection to both managing the technology and managing the employees within the technological change process. Leadership is different from managing, and this will be made clear within the literature review regarding the concept of leadership.

An underlying concept used in this paper is resistance to change, because of its occurrence in many technological changes. Underlying means in this case that this concept will not be discussed in detail within the literature review, but will be taken into account within the discussion of this paper. Resistance occurs when people disagree about whether or how to proceed with an technology implementation. This failure symptom is typical among

particularly novel innovations, occurs during or immediately after implementation (Levinson, 1985), and can emerge from self-interest or confusion regarding organizational IT goals (Heracleous, 2000). This concept is used in underlying the contribution of leadership in making a technological change more effective.

These concepts are used in contributing to the objectives of this paper; which are (1) the implementation of (interactive) technologies and managing this technological change and (2) studying the participation of employees in the organizations and (3) ways of increasing the effectiveness of the change by not only discussing management but also leadership and (4) examining the effect on resistance to change.

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CONTRIBUTION OF THESIS

Making decisions about whether to implement these new technologies and how to manage it within the existing organization is key to many organizations (for instance, retailers), because it is commonly believed that implementation success depends upon an organization’s ability to manage change (McDonaugh, 2001; Shrivastava & Shaw, 2003), making this

implementation management a pivotal problem source. This paper thereby contributes to this problem and its objective in using a theoretical framework to give managers an overview of important dimensions and properties when managing a technological change and using this information in helping them when technological change occurs.

From a theoretical perspective contributions are made to management and change theory, and with the focus on different dimensions when managing a change, that involves the entire organization, it also contributes to organization theory.

By using different approaches and selecting the most qualitative and relative articles, this research will aim for high quality and contribution as explained in the previous paragraph. Being based on previous research (theory), multiple cases will add a practical perspective how these specific situations were managed.

RESEARCH QUESTION AND THESIS OUTLINE

The evolvements within the retail industry raised the question that this paper is answering, only to keep this research applicable to all multiple industries, it is used as an example to give certain insights and make certain aspects more vivid.

This evolvement starts with the fact that retailing technologies are constantly emerging, and retailers have to be involved in the implementation of innovative business practices provided by the technological innovations. Introducing new technology enables retailers to improve their services to customers, to improve their management operations and reduce their cost as well (Renko and Druzijanic, 2014). And evenly important is that these technologies will only be effective when users are motivated to adopt them (Davies et al., 2011).

The main research question therefore will be:

How does managing the technology and the employees, positively influence a technological change implementation?

Due to findings within previous research, this question has been extended with the concept of leadership, and therefore an underlying sub-question within this review is:

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This review will continue with a method section where the choice for this specific research and data collection are outlined and continues explaining the different concepts in more detail and building the theoretical framework of this research. Then, by using the theoretical

framework a discussion will arise of the different dimensions with the multiple cases in adding a practical perspective and finally the limitations of this research are summarized, the contributions and implications for management will be discussed and proposing paths for future research.

METHODOLOGY

To be able to answer this question, an extended review was conducted on the key concepts and from this a theoretical framework was presented. Later, there will be a discussion, but first an indication of how this process evolved and why a literature review has been chosen.

THE SEARCH STRATEGY: A LITERATURE REVIEW

As earlier studies emphasized more on the effects of (interactive) technologies, this paper is trying to view the change implementation process of interactive technologies and the

participation of employees in this process from a management perspective. Being a rather underexplored territory a theory development process will be used in this paper (van Aken, Berends & van der Bij, 2012). A review of these concepts will be the strategy to explore this implementation process. Because a literature review is an objective, thorough summary and critical analysis of the relevant available research and non-research literature on the topic being studied (Hart, 1998) and draws conclusions about the topic in question. The body of literature is made up of the relevant studies and knowledge that address the subject area (Cronin et al., 2008). Within this research it is to develop a more thorough understanding of the management perspective on managing the technology and managing the employees when a interactive technology has been implemented. The role of leadership is thereby taken into account and how it contributes to this management perspective and does it influence the resistance to change, that often exists in case of change.

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RESEARCH METHOD AND DATA COLLECTION

Data can be collected in different ways: employing a panel of experts to identify relevant papers; using knowledge of the existing literature to select articles; and searching various databases using keywords (Crossan & Apaydin, 2010). The last two approaches were used within this research, were especially existing literature reviews and systematic reviews can be important sources of data. This because they can offer a good overview of the research that has been undertaken, so that the relevance to the present work can be determined (Cronin et al., 2008). Using the databases of JSTOR, EBSCO and Business Source Premier, these

reviews were collected in order to start with finding relevant information. Furthermore, within these reviews, and this also applies to other articles found, references within articles were used to find relating articles, using a so called snowball approach.

The second approach of finding articles using keywords was also found an effective way of finding articles related to the concepts of this research. They are the most common method of identifying literature (Cronin et al., 2008). However, keywords need carefully consideration in order to select terms that will generate the data being sought.

Depending on the concept (managing technology, managing employees or leadership) different keywords were used to be able to find relevant articles. The words, ‘technology’ combined with ‘interactive’, ‘alignment’ or ‘retailer’ were the most common within the section of managing technology. Articles relating managing of employees were mostly found by searching with the words ‘employees’ combined with ‘participation’, ‘motivation’,

‘decision making’ or ‘vision’. The combination regarding both concepts reflect the different properties that were discussed within the literature review. And information concerning leadership was mostly found within these articles, or using the references.

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This table gives a brief overview of the most important journals used within this research and the relation to a specific concept.

Concept Journals used

Change Journal of Change Management

Management Management decision

Academy of management perspectives Journal of management development

Technology MIS Quarterly

Journal of interactive marketing

Retailing Journal of retailing and consumer services

Others Journal of operations management

Searching for relevant articles, using keywords and references from the articles are both approaches to accomplish this. However, at a certain point relevant articles become harder to find and from this point the use of journals became an additions in the search for relevant articles. An advantage when using these journals in this search for relevant articles is that these journals already delivered relevant articles to this paper and could therefore be an indication for more relevant articles. These journals also indicate what their focus is (looking at the name of these journals), for instance management related or technology related, making the search more effective.

DATA ANALYSIS

After the selection of the relevant articles, analyzing these articles is the next step in writing this literature review. Important when starting this analysis is deciding what the goal is of the review, and that is using multiple dimensions regarding the management of a technological change to provide managers with an overview of what to consider when this change is going to happen/happening. Thereby having a conceptual, rather than an empirical, consolidation and thus being methodologically limited to descriptive rather than statistical methods in our analysis of the results. This means “a sacrifice of depth for breadth” ( Crossan & Apaydin, 2010, p. 1157), however the analysis of specific properties of managing the technology and the employees adds more depth to this review. These specific properties arose when data was collected and a careful analysis was performed. This is also known as data synthesis, which is the primary value-added product of a review as it produces new knowledge based on thorough data collection and careful analysis ( Crossan & Apaydin, 2010).

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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

When conducting research regarding organizational changes and specifically technological changes different views and properties were mentioned and discussed within the literature. Mainly about what is important and what are the effects are of these changes. To be able to contribute to the (technological) change research this framework was created to use previous research, that was discussed within the literature review, to discuss concluding insights and use different practical case studies to not just use theory but also practice to explain them. MANAGING TECHNOLOGY

1. Alignment

2. Communication channels organization & customer 3. Purchase related processes

MANAGING EMPLOYEES

1. Involving in decision making 2. Motivation of employees 3. Developing & communicating

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LITERATURE REVIEW

The theoretical concepts that are playing a fundamental role within this research will be discussed and outlined in this section. Therefore the specific properties of managing technology, managing employees and leadership be addressed and conceptualized. These concepts are fundamental due to the knowledge in order to contribute to the process after the implementation of a ‘new’ technology, within this review technology has been used in a broad sense in order to be applicable in multiple cases of technology. To discuss and explain this in more depth towards the concept of interactive technology, several practical cases will be used. The concept of interactive technology, resistance to change and the implementation of this ‘new’ technology have been discussed within the introduction section, therefore this section focuses on previous research of the key concepts within this research: managing technology, managing employees and (transformational) leadership.

MANAGING TECHNOLOGY

The contribution of a new technology to a firm performance can only be realized when and if the new technology is widely adopted. Adoption itself results of a series of individual

decisions based on the basis of various factors. The understanding of the factors affecting these decisions is essential to the technological change management (Coeurderoy et al. 2014). These important factors within managing the technological change that will be further

discussed within this research are 1) the alignment of the technology with the business

strategy 2) the communication between the organization and the customer and 3) the purchase related processes.

TECHNOLOGY-BUSINESS STRATEGY ALIGNMENT

This section focuses not just on the technology, but keeps in mind that an organization is more than its technology. An organization consists of different parts where technology can be a single part and where these different parts can be aligned with each other. Alignment is defined as “the degree to which the needs, demands, goals, objectives, and/or structures of

one component are consistent with the needs, demands, goals, objectives, and/or structures of another component” (Gerrow, 2014).

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research will specifically look at technology at one side and business (strategy) on the other side. And within previous research this is specified to alignment of information technology (within this research further referred to as IT) and business strategy and can be defined in different ways depending on the focus of alignment. For instance, the definition given by Luftman (2003) emphasizes on business strategies, goals and needs:

“the implementation of IT applications correctly, timely, and in harmony with business strategies, goals and company needs”.

Where Strassmann (1998) focused more on alignment in terms of finances and indicated that in order to line up IT with business plans this requires the adoption of a language used in dealing with financial matters. He argued that while project managers may praise customer satisfaction, quality and workflow simplification, CEOs and shareholders evaluate projects primarily on the basis of contributions to net cash flow. Therefore, alignment is “the capacity

to demonstrate a positive relationship between IT and the accepted financial measures of performance”.

This does not mean that other measures are not important, because market share, customer satisfaction, taking care of employees, acting as good citizens, innovation and numerable other virtues are also essential. However, as explained financial measures of performance are key. When using the term alignment, however the focus is, its common goal is having positive relationships between the technology and other parts of an organization. This conclusion is drawn by comparing the three definitions of alignment made within this section.

Important to notice is that achieving alignment, has its advantages and disadvantages and should be considered before implementation of the technology and allowing this alignment to be achieved. This achievement of alignment will be discussed later, because now discussion regarding the advantages and disadvantages found in previous literature will be viewed using research from Gerrow et al. (2014)

First, previous research suggests that aligned firms are more likely to invest in IT and allocate resources to projects tied to overall business objectives. Because aligned firms effectively use IT resources, research often finds that they leverage IT to respond to and exploit opportunities in the market, increase profitability, and create a sustainable competitive advantage.

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Consequently, alignment may result in a too rigid organization, where tight links between business and IT restrict the firm’s ability to recognize change, reduces its strategic flexibility, and inhibits its ability to respond to environmental change (Benbya and McKelvey, 2006). This view suggests some organizations find themselves in a “rigidity trap” because the alignment process is too time-consuming, costly, and formal to enable quick responses to changing market conditions (Chen, 2010).

However, knowing what alignment entails and assessing these advantages and disadvantages is just the beginning, because eventually it is important how do you achieve this alignment and especially what is needed to make it successful.

ACHIEVING ALIGNMENT

Research done by Reksoatmodjo et al. (2012), concluded that earlier research suggests that in order to achieve alignment, organizations need to pursue a comprehensive and sustained effort (Lederer and Mendelow 1989; Luftman 2003; Chung et al. 2003; and Elhari and Bounabat 2011), and also need to consider the social and intellectual aspects of the organization (Reich and Benbassat 2000). The achievement of this alignment needs to be accomplished on multiple levels, Tarafdar & Qrunfleh (2009) mentioned the planning (or strategic) and execution (or tactical) levels.

Alignment at the planning or strategic level ensures that IT plans and business plans are synchronized and its associated processes are about planning for and choosing applications and systems that are appropriate to the firm’s strategic goals and objectives.

Alignment at the operational or tactical level is required for ensuring that planned applications are successfully implemented, maintained and used, that applications and systems irrelevant to the business plan are not implemented, and that implemented IT delivers envisaged business benefits (Tarafdar & Qrunfleh, 2009). Furthermore should the processes for tactical alignment facilitate operational level linkages between IT and the functions vis-à-vis

application implementation projects, technology choices, resource allocations, and skill requirements, and synchronization of management, delivery and governance strategies between IT and business.

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(a) IT functions are developed according to business objectives;

(b) business strategies are driven, supported, and enabled by the IT strategies; (c) consistent business objectives and activities of IT-based organizations;

(d) the organization should give priority to IT projects that lead to conditions that allow contents and IT planning process dimensions to become mutually complementary; (e) IT is able to contribute to the achievement of organization objectives at all levels.

SUCCESSFUL ALIGNMENT

Achieving alignment is one thing, making sure that it is successful another. Therefore this section indicates ways or requirements by previous research that can contribute to having a successful IT and business alignment.

To some point, previous studies agreed that IT infrastructure flexibility is a key to success of achieving alignment, as expressed by Weill et al. (2002); Luftman (2003); and Chung et al. (2003); Butchii and Steyn (2008); Chen and Huang (2010); as well as Elhari and Bounabat (2011). This being one requirement of successful alignment, Strassmann (1998) discussed several more requirements that an organization must have to ensure a successful alignment: First, alignment must show enhancements to a business plan, meaning that a proposal should demonstrate the discounted cash flow of its proposed business improvement showing the high and low expected financial returns. Second, alignment must remain updated as the business evolves which contains steady exchange in information between the systems, organization and everyone else. A third requirement is that alignment must overcome obstacles to its purposes as the scope of the technological change and as new implementation problems surface. Fourth, alignment must be planned in some way and according to Strassmann (1998) the best planning method for alignment is to make IT invisible. This is because it is not It that aligns with the business, but how computerization lines up with those who get customers, serve customers, and keep customers. And finally, alignment must relate to benefits and to be able to accomplish these benefits one must first identify the sources of misalignment. For instance, if profitability or performance does not meet expectations, there must be reasons why. There is no point in implementing latest technology as a remedy, if the problem is curable by changing management practices (Strassmann, 1998).

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framework that could be used. It can be defined as a business-IT management framework to enable successful implementation of business and IT, and their corresponding infrastructures components. The SAM model (figure 1), represents the dynamic alignment between the business strategic context and the IT strategic context and is defined in terms of four fundamental domains of strategic choices that consist of: business strategy, IT strategy, organizational infrastructures and processes, and information technology infrastructures and processes. Each of the four domains has its own underlying dimensions that consist of three components, yielding in all twelve components that further define business-IT strategic alignment.

Figure 1: Henderson and Venkatraman (1992): The Strategic Alignment Model

ORGANIZATION-CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION

16 them a formidable tool to gather information and to be heard, not just by a few but by many (Berry et al. 2010).

Retailers thereby having the opportunity of new ways of interacting with their customers.

This change makes people a potential audience for persuasive communication not just when they are searching. The argument is that when a person is always connected to the internet, the person is always in the market, always available to be communicated with, and always an audience (Deighton & Kornfeld, 2009).

Especially when wireless internet and the mobile technology was introduced, the retail environment changed significantly and an increase in (potential) customers using mobile phones, directed retailers in using a more mobile marketing mindset in order to build

sustainable and profitable relationships (Ryu, 2013). Mobile marketing is defined here as an interactive communication between an organization (the retailer) and the customer via a mobile medium, device, or technology (Shankar & Balasubramanian, 2008).

These changes indicate that there are multiple channels for retailers to interact with their customers, channels being the mechanisms for communication, as well as for service delivery, and transaction completion (Berry et al., 2010).

Research by Godfrey (2011) spoke of multichannel relational communication, which was defined as personalized communication with existing customers through various channels as part of a broader relationship marketing strategy. In an effort to retain and cross-sell to existing customers, companies use individual-level customer data to personalize this

communication. The communication can remind customers of needed services, announce new products and locations, survey customer satisfaction following a service encounter, and convey targeted promotional offers.

The use of these multiple channels and ways of contacting the customers allows retailers to offer customers complementary benefits that enhance the overall utility of the

communication, signifying greater resource investment. This is being seen as something positive by the customers. It also offers multiple points of contact for customers, thus increasing the frequency of customer interactions with the retailer (Bernard, 2006).

To encourage loyalty and build long-term relationships, firms

must communicate with their customers in a compelling way .

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Therefore, when customers attribute the enhanced utility to retailer actions, they reciprocate with increased spending (Godfrey, 2011).

Customers can respond differently and see this use of multiple channels as something negative because the retailer is using a more ad hoc approach instead of a customized one in communicating with them (Godfrey, 2011). They can see as having too many choices for interacting with retailers and eventually overwhelm customers. According to Thompson, Hamilton, and Rust (2005) it is just as too many features built into consumer products, while initially attractive to customers, can lead to “feature fatigue,” frustrating customers during product use and lowering their overall satisfaction (Thompson, Hamilton, and Rust 2005).

The multiple channels that are used are especially important as ways of communicating, however for having longer-term success Berry et al. (2010) explained that it is imperative to innovate in interactive services. Defined as “services that have some form of customer–firm interaction in an environment characterized by any level of technology” (Bolton & Saxena-Iyer (2009). These services are to deliver benefits to customers through single or multiple diverse channels (Berry et al., 2010).

The changes in the marketplace through the introduction of the (wireless) internet, mobile technology, using multiple channels, these are all different aspects that retailers help and use in communicating with their customers nowadays as was discussed.

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PURCHASE RELATED PROCESSES

Processes related to purchases done by customers are, like communication, changing due to changes in the industry by the use of the internet. The focus will therefore be on what is known as internet retailing. This Internet retailing is a fairly new format that some retailers have adopted as a consequence of this e-commerce evolution. Internet retailing or E-tailing consists of an internet-based store format of retailing, which uses “more radical models of retail operations, compared to the traditional bricks-and-mortar store, catalog and home shopping formats already in use” (Grewal et al., 2004; Kumar et al., 2010).

The channels which were discussed within the previous section are also related to the transaction and purchasing process as defined by Berry et al. (2010). And it is increasingly important for retailers to use such channels to collect information about consumers and their preferences, as well as disseminate information about product offerings. For example, online and direct marketing channels are especially useful for collecting customer-level information. And thereby use these channels to move consumers from search activities towards purchase. They can for instance use catalogs to “pull” targeted consumers to visit a website or store, increasing the likelihood that they will purchase ( Berry et al., 2010).

Placing the focus nowadays more and more on the online channel, it is important to consider that the online channel and its supply chain differ from its offline version in customer types, operations of order fulfillment, cost structure, profit contributions, priority in rationing,

logistical requirements, expectations of service quality, degree of market segmentation, access to demand/supply information, and returns policies among others elements. As result, it is relevant for retailers to study the different aspects of the supply chains of companies engaged in selling via the internet (Kumar, 2012).

Something that is very important when customers purchase online is, suggested by earlier literature (Kim and Kim, 2008), that consumers who enjoy their shopping experience make more purchases. Meaning a higher quality of the purchase process that besides their purchases affect their satisfaction and loyalty (Zeithaml et al., 2002; Wolfinbarger and Gilly, 2003).

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responsive online purchase process, serve their customers better, improve customer satisfaction and increase retention (Thirumalai & Sinha, 2010).

By for instance using cookies, transaction customization enables web sites to identify customers upon arrival and retrieve customer’s personal account information such as billing information, shipping information, frequently ordered list of products, past purchases and status of orders, and personal preferences in terms of e-mail reminders, thus decreasing any transaction inconvenience that the customers might have (Thirumalai & Sinha, 2010). When retailers have decided to engage within the online channels for customers to purchase online, they have to see the opportunities and the drawbacks. The previous section discussed it from a communication perspective, but eventually it is all about customers purchasing the product.

Therefore, internet retailing offers customers the benefits of greater access to price

comparison information, given them the possibility to compare it directly online. Also giving them a different and unique shopping experience and the convenience of a “store” open 24 hours a day seven days a week (Kumar, 2012). Moreover , it can provide extensive product selections, powerful search and screening tools, and volumes of information (Burke, 2002) and by lowering these search costs, the online technology can improve the quality of purchase decisions (Hauser & Wernerfelt 1990; Ratchford 1982).

However, internet retailing has some drawbacks for consumers, such as lack of the ability to try a product, lack of interpersonal trust, lack of instant gratification, high shipping and

handling costs, lower customer service, loss of privacy and security, challenging logistics, and lack of an in-store shopping experience (Kumar, 2012). This in-store shopping experience is something that will always be an existing difference from online shopping and purchasing, but it can be overcome when more of the sensory information available during an in-store encounter with the product is simulated (Fiore et al., 2005).

Increasing use of the online purchase channels does not mean that retailers do not use other channels as well. Retailers can also choose to integrate these different channels, meaning online and physical channels, whichprovides opportunities for synergies allowing organizations and retailers to offer different services via different channels, thus creating greater customer value. With regard to the purchase by customers, an online channel may produce spillover effects resulting in increased purchases in the offline channels (Kumar et al., 2012).

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organization. For this reason, many traditional firms create online channels that operate independently from their existing physical channels (Steinfeld, 2002).

Having discussed important properties regarding the (interactive) technology which

management should take into account when changing their organization, it does not end with jst the technology. Ultimately, the organization’s work gets done through people, individually or collectively, on their own or in collaboration with technology (Nadler & Tushman, 1980). This is an important reason for this research to examine not only properties of managing technology itself but also the people (the employees) that make the change happen.

MANAGING EMPLOYEES

When an organization engages in technological change its employees are out of their comfort zones, routines,

relationships, and common knowledge base. Anticipating change, employees will fear for their jobs, their schedules, their established procedures, their work space, their benefits, the prestige, and so on (Warnken, 2004). To allow this fear to be diminished or even eliminated, managers have to invest in the people or employees of the organization.

A way of doing this is involving the employees in the

change process, within the literature also known as participative management. This concept will therefore be used to discuss the management of employees within this research, in order to have the opportunity to have a more specified field of study.

PARTICIPATIVE MANAGEMENT

The relationship between change and participation is something that was already argued decades ago by Lewin (1948) cited in Msweli-Mbanga and Potwana, 2005, and said that a person’s conduct, perception and sentiment can change to the degree to which the individual becomes actively involved in the problem. Lewin’s (1948) theory essentially emphasizes that it is through participation under suitable conditions, that an individual can willingly change his conduct. Decades later, more researchers indicated that involvement of employees could make a difference: for instance, John Kotter, an emeritus professor at the Harvard Business

“Well managed people, manage change more

efficiently”

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School, has stated clearly that the focus of change leadership is on crafting a vision that reinforces urgency and minimizes complacency, and then aligning and motivating people affected by the change so that they are prepared to support and adopt it (Kotter, 1996, 2008).These different concepts (leadership, vision and motivating people) will be discussed later in this paper to explain them in more detail.

Conger and Kanungo (1988) also argue that the feeling of participation is important to stimulate and address changes in organizations, due to the fact that the uncertainty associated to changes generates a feeling of low self esteem in employees; it is advisable to avoid such feeling of low self confidence through an adequate participative program.

In essence, participative management is a management style where managers share their influence with the rest of the members of the organization in the decision making

process with specific characteristics with regards to information systems, training, rewards, leadership and organizational culture (Pardo del Val et al., 2012). Indicating that the contribution in the decision making process is not limited to those who have formal power positions. This argument is shared by Wagner (1994), because according to him participation can be defined as the process in which the influence is shared among individuals who do not hold the same hierarchical position. Wagner (1994) indicates that participative management aims to balance the involvement of managers and their employees in processes such as informing, decision making and problem solving. Meaning that it can have an impact on different aspects that could be important regarding the change that is continuing within the organization.

Not only has research been important in identifying the involvement of employees but also on the outcomes of participative management. According to Petkosvka et al. (2015), earlier research had confirmed that participatory management had a positive impact on job

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In order to create a more specified conceptualization of participation, multiple properties will be discussed to create and analyze it from different views. Within this research, three

important properties of participative management have been selected to give more depth to this concept, and in this way to be approached by different angles. One of the most significant properties is the involvement in the decision making of employees and will therefore be integrated within this review of participative management. The other properties that will be discussed are motivation of employees and developing and communication a vision.

INVOLVING EMPLOYEES IN DECISION MAKING

The reason for integrating the involvement of employees in the decision making process as a property of participative management is that it appears in many definitions (as stated earlier by for instance Pardo del Val et al. (2012) and Wagner (1994)), and therefore concluding that it is important within the concept of participative management. This involvement is also known as participative decision making, defined by Probst (2005) as: “the extent to which

employers allow or encourage employees to share or participate in organizational decision-making”.

Later, Russ (2011) extended this definition as the “process

of involving employees in decisions typically made by managers and usually involves the cascade of control and decision-making responsibility from managers to

employees”.

It was believed that sharing the power of decision making with employees can result in their increased performance and job satisfaction. This idea of employee empowerment has originated from the early theories of participative

management and employee involvement in the organizational strategic planning (Petkovska et al. 2015). Important to realize according to Houlihan (2014) is that when you empower your employees to make decisions on the spot, not only do decisions get made quicker, but you also improve overall organizational productivity and customer satisfaction.

This research in employee involvement in organizational decision making started in 1949 with Coch and French (1949) who suggested that there is a direct link between the employee

“Once you trust employees, empower them, and train them to

be in alignment with the company’s values and mission,

they rarely make a wrong decision”.

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participation in the workplace and the levels of job satisfaction and productivity. Next to these linkages, later on more positive influences of employee involvement in decision making were found, especially on workers well-being and mental health, intrinsic motivation and self- confidence (Spreitzer et al., 1997; Miller & Monge, 1986). This is because employees’

perception of their organization affects their perception of the organizational climate, which in return impacts the way relate to their job and see their future in the organization, work

adjustment, health and well-being (Wilson et al., 2004; Macky & Boxall, 2008).

As indicated by Houlihan (2014), the involvement of employees in decision making also has an impact on the overall organization and not just on employees. Ornoy (2010, p.7)

considered that it is helpful in achieving goals of both employees and organizations:

“For employees, participation can allow more influence at work, and enhance his or her self-realization, self-esteem, satisfaction and sense of fairness. For the employing organization, participation can improve communication and the quality of the decision-making process, and enhance higher identification with the organization and commitment to implementation of decisions. It is observed that employees’ involvement in organizational decision making leads to their identification with the organization and its decisions, and consequently contribute to productivity and efficiency”.

How this involvement of employees in decision making is administered varies between organizations and sectors, the general view was that employees should be involved to some extent in management decisions, even if this only resulted in greater information disclosure and a limited amount of consultation at workplace level (Marchington & Kynighou, 2012). With regard to technological change, employee participation in the decision making

process led to management perceiving a more supportive employee reaction toward both the decisions to make technological changes and the implementation of the changes than if

employees are informed of changes after the decisions were made unilaterally by management (Bemmels & Reshef 1991). Today, employees must be flexible with work assignments since changes in technology may require changes in the way work is completed. This situation often requires changes in employee behavior as well, such as forcing the employee to take more initiative in learning new technology or making more decisions without direct supervision (Lilly & Durr, 2012).

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MOTIVATION OF EMPLOYEES

“At the heart of the motivation process is goal setting”(Meyer et al. 2004).

A statement made because presumably all consciously motivated behavior is goal-oriented, whether the goals are self-generated or assigned by others (Meyer et al. 2004). Furthermore, motivation requires a desire to act, an ability to act, and having an objective ( Ramlall, 2004). Naturally occurring goals derive from the activation of basic

human needs, personal values, personality traits, and self-efficacy perceptions shaped through experience and socialization. Individuals also set, or accept, goals in response to external incentives. The goals individuals choose can vary in difficulty and specificity, and these attributes, in combination with perceptions of self-efficacy, help determine the direction of behavior, the amount of effort exerted, the degree of persistence, and the likelihood

that individuals will develop strategies to facilitate goal attainment (Meyer et al. 2004).

In order to develop a deeper understanding of the concept of motivation, the basic concepts put forward by Kotter (1998) and modern theories are further discussed. These theories will indicate that motivation is viewed from different angles and researchers found different ways in motivating people and thus employees.

BASIC CONCEPTS OF MOTIVATION (BY KOTTER 1998)

Glickman et al. 2002 describe important basic concepts of motivating people summarized from Kotter (1998): establishing vision, involving staff, supporting efforts, and rewarding outcomes. Kotter (1998) posits that motivation is an evolutionary process in which leaders and employees cooperate to achieve the basic human relations goal: mutual benefit and satisfaction of the organizational goals and the individual’s needs.

In order to accomplish this basic human relations goal, leaders must define a realistic vision, articulate its purpose, and ensure that employees understand and appreciate the vision that presents a realistic, credible, and attractive future.

“Without motivation, people won’t help and the

effort goes nowhere”.

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Kotter (1998) further states that employee motivation is improved by encouraging staff

involvement in determining “how” the institutional vision is to be achieved.

A third motivational technique results from overt employee support. Staff efforts may be en- hanced by “providing coaching, feedback, and role modeling, thereby helping people grow professionally and enhancing their self esteem.”

The final motivational technique Kotter (1998) recommends is recognition. Clear demonstrations of recognition and rewards assure the employees that their efforts are contributing to the mission and that they are appreciated for their individual and team

accomplishments. Kotter (1998) emphasizes that motivation and inspiration energize people, not by pushing them in the right direction but by satisfying basic human needs.

MODERN THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

The evolution of these modern theories of human motivation have evolved through underlying methods of explaining behavior, namely; needs, reinforcement, cognition, job characteristics, and feelings/emotions (Ramlall, 2004).

NEED THEORY

Starting with Maslow’s need hierarchy theory, his defining work was the development of the hierarchy of needs. He believed that there are at least five sets of goals which can be referred to as the basic needs and are psychological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization. Maslow (1943) stated that people, including employees at organizations, are motivated by the desire to achieve or maintain the various conditions upon which these basic satisfactions rest and by certain more intellectual desires.

The implications of this theory provide useful insights for managers and other organizational leaders (Ramlall, 2004). Finding ways of motivating employees by devising programs or practices aimed at satisfying emerging or unmet needs or implementing support programs and focus groups to help employees deal with stress, especially during more challenging times and taking time to understand the needs of the respective employees (Ramlall, 2004).

EQUITY THEORY

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(recognition, salary). One of the most prominent equity theories is that of J.S. Adams, which is about the evaluation of social exchange relationships with inputs and outcomes as major components.

When people perceive there is an imbalance in their outcome-input ratio relative to others, tension is created. This tension provides the basis for motivation, as people strive for what they perceive as equity and fairness (Ramlall, 2004). In order to be able to diminish this tension is to develop reward systems that are perceived to be fair and equitable and distributing the reward in accordance with employee beliefs about their own value to the organization (Ramlall, 2004). The underlying belief is that people are motivated by external rewards and do things for which they are rewarded (Boonstra, 2003).

JOB DESIGN

Job design is a theoretical approach that is based on the idea that the task itself is key to employee motivation. Meaning that a challenging job enhances motivation and variety, autonomy and decision authority are ways of adding challenge to a job (Ramlall, 2004). Which is important in order to keep employees motivated or make them more motivated to do their job. The redesign of the job should allow for an increased challenge and responsibility, opportunities for advancement, personal growth, and recognition (Ramlall, 2004).

One of earliest researchers in this area of job redesign was Frederick Herzberg (1959), who argued that for an employee to be truly motivated, the employee’s job has to be fully enriched where the employee has the opportunity for achievement and recognition, stimulation,

responsibility, and advancement.

A more current and well known perspective on job design is that of Hackman and Oldham (1980) and they concluded that an employee will experience internal motivation when their job generates three critical psychological states. First, the employee must feel personal responsibility for the outcomes of the job. Second, the work must be experienced as

meaningful by the employee. Meaning that the contribution of an employee affects the overall effectiveness of an organization. And the third state is that the employee is aware of how effective he/she is in converting effort in performance.

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transparent economic motivators paired with supporting communications efforts are most effective at persuading employees to boost productivity. Using them improves worker performance, reduces employee insecurities, bolsters future job security, and shows workers they can control their own destinies. However, non-economic motivators have a long history, always aiming to bolster workers' pride. And although they offer little positive motivation, their absence is resented, meaning that these efforts should be continued because they sustain employee morale (Imberman 2012). However, having a career path, which can be obtainable within the organization, may increase the employee’s ability to see a meaningful path forward and to feel a valued member of an organization (Boonstra, 2003).

DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATION OF A ‘TECHNOLOGY’

VISION

According to Kotter (1995) it is part of the basic concepts of motivating employees, establishing a vision. However, due to its significance this will be discussed within this section.

A vision is not just the direction that an organization is taking, it is more. A vision always goes beyond the numbers that are typically found in five-year plans. A vision says something that helps clarify the direction in which an organization needs to move. It is essential in breaking down the status quo (Kotter 1996), because it separates the future from the past. And the reason that this is in fact essential is because it is necessary to motivate people to work towards a common goal (Hooper & Potter, 2000).

Previous research however focused more on broader generic elements of vision, especially organizational vision (Kotter 1995, 1996; Collins and Porras, 1991, 1995; Hamel and Prahalad, 1994; Stokes, 1991) and little is known about technology vision.

Using the definition of Reid et al. (2014) on technology vision, it is clear there are similarities in its defining elements. The definition being “a mental image held by individual

organizational members regarding technical goals related to developing a new technology”, and this vision helps provide direction (as a vision defined previously by Kotter (1996)) and focus for individuals involved in the early phase of the new technology.

Having defined this technology vision it is important to look at its specific components and to be able to communicate this vision within the organization.

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goals related to benefits, goals related to efficiencies, clarity of vision with respect to infrastructure, specificity of the vision, and vision magnetism.

The first two components refer to the technology and having clear goals related to its development (Sengupta, 1998; Tripsas, 2000), and as a result these are included within the technology vision goals.

Having clarity of vision pertains to the technology infrastructure that the firm adopts early on. This may constrain choice, but on the positive side it provides a sense of direction in a world of seemingly infinite possibilities. However, to prevent this direction in being be too broad there needs to be a certain specificity of vision, which is helpful in providing specific direction within the broad guidelines of the technology infrastructure provided by a clear vision (Reid et al., 2014). The two components, infrastructure clarity and specificity of vision, comes from both successful past experiences and/or an intuitive sense of where a given technology is going.

Finally, because of the importance of key individuals in initiating an organizations’

involvement with a given technology, technology vision magnetism plays a key role. Using this inherent magnetic quality to motivate and drive these individuals and their followers forward.

Overall, technology vision helps integrate the technological potential with a visionary’s social capabilities and internal resources, which are required to be successful in the competitive industry.

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LEADERSHIP

Within this section the concept of leadership will be shortly introduced and discussed,

because it appears to influence both major concepts of this research, the technological change and the employees.

Kumar Basu (2015) for instance state that:

“Ultimately, when individuals make decisions about how hard they will work to support a technology transformation, they seem to rely on their own personal view of the leader who makes the request”.

However, order to have a more clear focus on this concept, the distinction between

leadership and management will be explained first, because earlier research (Warren Bennis 1989; Kotter, 1990; Bruhns, 2004) indicates that these concepts are not similar and are both necessary to successfully implement a technological change. Second, a clear definition of leadership will be formed and last there will be discussed what effective leadership entails.

LEADERSHIP VERSUS MANAGEMENT

Managing technological change and managing employees is more than management, it takes leadership, or does it not? For this reason, the concept of leadership will be discussed in this section in order to point out its significance within this

change process. Important to mention is that leadership is different from management according to multiple

influential thinkers ( and therefore leaders from managers), and explain and discuss why and what this distinction entails. Two of these important thinkers are Warren Bennis and John Kotter, they explained where they made the distinction.

Within his book, ‘On becoming a leader’, Warren Bennis (1989) stated that:

“There is a profound difference between management and leadership, and both are important. To manage means to bring about, to accomplish, to have charge of or

responsibility for, to conduct. Leading is influencing, guiding in a direction, course, action, opinion. The distinction is crucial”.

The manager does things right; the leader does the

right thing.

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Where John Kotter (1990), in his article ‘What leaders really do’ stated that:

“Leadership and management are two distinctive and complementary systems of action… Both are necessary for success in an increasingly complex and volatile business

environment”.

These statements show that leading a change is different than managing this change, therefore we use and further explain the concept of leadership in order to have a clear view of this important aspect of the change process within this research.

WHAT MEANS BEING A LEADER?

Being a leader and leading change is not simply a matter of a leader’s style or personality; it is a leader’s philosophy of how to generate and mobilize the total resources of an organization to enable it to be its best (Bruhn, 2004).Within the change process they must also be followers. They must be attentive to their staff to recognize concerns, determine readiness for change, be prepared for resistance, and gauge how quickly and how dramatically to proceed.

Important is that leaders must be prepared to listen and respond honestly and openly (Warnken, 2014). In order to be able to narrow the scope of leadership, several styles will be

introduced and discussing which is use and why. Three types of ‘general’ leadership styles are often referred to in the literature: laissez-faire, transactional, and transformational.

Laissez-faire leadership is understood as “non-leadership”. Such leaders avoid accepting responsibility, are absent when

needed, fail to follow up on requests for assistance, and resist expressing views on important issues. They tend to be physically and emotionally removed from subordinates (Appelbaum, 2015).

Transactional leadership focuses on day-to-day transactions, accomplishing goals with and through others. This leadership style focuses on employee compliance and relies on

organizational rewards and punishments to influence performance (Appelbaum et al., 2015). Transactional leaders operate through clarity, contingent reward, and management by exception, attempting to meet material and psychological needs in exchange for desired services or behaviours (Appelbaum et al., 2015).

It is extremely important that the leaders “walk the talk”

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Transformational leadership is seen as “the perspective that effective leaders transform or change the basic values, beliefs, and attitudes of followers so that they are willing to perform beyond the minimum levels specified by the organization”(Podsakoff et al. (1990), where they are concerned about the transformation of both the organization and the individuals within it, and to that end influence their followers to transcend their own self-interests for the good of the group by raising their commitment to the importance of the organization’s vision (Allen et al., 2013). It involves binding employees around a common purpose. These leaders act “as change drivers, actively involved in creating an environment and culture that foster change and growth” (Oke et al. 2009, 65).

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Within the context of technological change, the transformational leader is the best option. This because Laissez faire is seen as a ‘non-leadership’ style and not mentioned within any literature regarding technological change. Transactional leadership is limited by a ‘technicist’ perspective, which sees technological change as needing primarily technical problem-solving skills, with little attention given to people problem solving and work organization

implications. This type of manager may possess the necessary technical problem solving skills, implementing skills would be impaired by limitations in path finding abilities, which are needed to translate the vision of the new kind of organization which is required for successful implementation and business outcomes (Beatty & Lee, 1992). Something that a transformational leader possesses according to Podsakoff et al. (1990).

EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP

“Leadership effectiveness can be viewed as the application of adequate leadership behaviors in such a way to as to contribute to achieving effectiveness and performance at the group level or the organizational level as a whole” (Appelbaum et al., 2015)

A statement that will be discussed in more detail within this next section to be able to

understand what it entails. As discussed by Allen et al. (2013), by definition, transformational leaders are focused on change. At the employee level, an effective transformational leader changes the values, beliefs, and attitudes of followers (Podsakoff et al. 1990). At an

organizational level, transformational leaders act as change agents who initiate and implement new directions within organizations (Northouse 2004). Thus meaning that an effective

transformational leader is able to foster a psychological climate that embraces readiness for change. This effectiveness is therefore needed to be able to lead the change and ‘guide’ the employees of an organization.

This proposition is supported by earlier research; for instance, by Graetz (2000) who conducted a qualitative case study approach involving three multinational companies to demonstrate that change leadership involves two roles: an instrumental role in which the leader has the knowledge to design the change and a charismatic role in which the leader has strong interpersonal skills. Graetz argued that a leader endorsing a significant organizational change must be able to envision, empower, and energize his or her followers.

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sometimes termed emotional quotient (EQ). Meaning a certain connection at the emotional level which helps a team find courage and gain acceptance, changing from a culture of fear and doubt into one of planning and action. Furthermore, he explains that charisma can thereby even enhance the morale of employees.

Second, Boonstra (2003) refers to Kottler (1994) who states that effective leaders need a wide range of contacts and good working relationships in the firm and the industry. Linked with this is a good track record in a relatively broad set of activities. And he also refers to keen minds, interpersonal skills, high integrity, seeing value in people, and a strong desire to lead. And last, Showry (2014) discussed that not just effective but for leadership to be successful, its often the case when people become aware of critical personal experiences in their life, understand the driving forces, and respond by rethinking about self, redirect their moves and reshape their actions.

These characteristics are all important within technological change processes, but it is

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CASE STUDIES

The case studies that are related to the concepts of the theoretical framework are of different retailers, which are all well known within the industry. Their experiences with change will shine a light on what they did in order to manage this change.

The first case study is about Tesco and is focused on managing the technology and different properties regarding this process. The second case study is about Philips, which changed the internal organization due to their weaker competitive position and need for change to increase their performance which focused on their employees. The third case study regards an

organization that mainly changed due to one important person and very respective leader, meaning Apple and their former CEO Steve Jobs.

CASE STUDY 1: TESCO

Tesco is one of the top three retailers in the world, initially launched its dot-com business in 1996 and formally registered Tesco.com as a separate business in 2000.

Although Tesco’s primary dot-com operations are based in the U.K, it has also successfully exported their dot-com strategy to other countries. Most importantly, Tesco is one of the few companies operating a profitable dot-com grocery business. Where customers are able to place orders from any computer, mobile device, smartphone and even from virtual shopping walls in the subway.

When it first started its online grocery store, Tesco used mass-mailing as a key strategy for marketing. But after a year, the retailer was faced with issues such as bouncing of emails and invalid addresses. Meanwhile, it also saw a decline in shoppers.

Tesco wanted to go further and understand how customers’ minds worked and how to be a priority brand in their purchase choices. Therefore data was used from different researchers focusing on customer satisfaction studies to receive information about marketer trends, consumer behavior and combined it with the data from the Club card. This helped the retailer to put the customer into the center of its decisions.

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history and their emailing habits. The CRM email strategy resulted in about 3000 customers being re-activated.

“We still do mass-mailing, i’m not saying it’s wrong, but there is a combination you need to find for the best results,” said Yap (marketing director of Tesco Malaysia).

CASE STUDY 2: PHILIPS

Philips is one of the world’s leading electronics companies. Its products are diverse and range from coffee makers to silicon chips, from recordings of Mozart’s symphonies to cancer screening systems. Philips has been at the forefront of electronic innovation since 1891, registering some 65,000 patents and has been responsible for many of this century’s greatest, most useful products like the Electric Shaver, Audio Cassette, Video Cassette Recorder, Compact Disc, and Energy Saving Lamps.

However, due to the rapidly changing technology industry which was signified by better quality products with higher reliability and value for money by competitors. The performance of Philips did not measure up with their competitors. Philips saw this as a signal that change is necessary in order to strengthen their competitive position and were, besides restructuring and cost-cutting, creating a movement for change called the Centurion programme.

Meetings at all levels of the organization were planned and at the heart of these meetings was the two way communication process (up and down). All employees were asked to raise challenging questions, to express their opinions and make suggestions. Managers gave information, answered questions and made decisions, on the spot.

The series of meetings and the communication process that was created by Centurion acted as a catalyst and created a framework for thousands of improvement projects by teams at all levels.

Today, Philips operates in a way which is quite different from the way it did in 1990. Today the emphasis in Philips is very much on its people, who are the driving force behind an organization which is geared towards the customers and providing quality products. Today it is not technology but people who are at the heart of Philips. Its advertising is, therefore, more than just a campaign. It is not surprising that the advertising centres on the people who personally “make things better” in their work; the story is that of Philips as a whole, the values and beliefs of a winning company, with an unequalled record of innovation.

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recognizes that people contribute their best when they know that they are appreciated for what they do. Employee surveys have been carried out throughout Philips from 1994 onwards.

CASE STUDY 3: APPLE

Apple Inc., is a multinational corporation founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976 and incorporated it in 1977, that creates consumer electronics, personal computers, computer software, and commercial servers, and is a digital distributor of media content. The company also has a chain of retail stores known as Apple Stores and since 1997 also online Apple stores.

For more than three decades, Apple Computer was predominantly a manufacturer of personal computers, including the Apple II, Macintosh, and Power Mac lines, but it faced rocky sales and low market share during the 1990s. Jobs, who had been ousted from the company in 1985, returned to Apple in 1996 after his company NeXT was bought by Apple. The following year he became the company's interim CEO, which later became permanent. Jobs subsequently instilled a new corporate philosophy of recognizable products and simple design, which has often been described as a hallmark of his leadership, starting with

the original iMac in 1998.

During Jobs two tenures at Apple he has served to motivate his followers inside and outside the company including customers, employees, stakeholders, and the media with a strong vision for putting the needs of the end-user first, to be different, an innovator and trendsetter. Steve Jobs has led in a bold way that served to motivate his followers through the force of his personality and thereby focused on morality, ethics, and changing the status quo to improve the moral capacity of the individual.