History And Leadership At William Electronics

History of William Electronics

William Electronics is and American electronic gaming and amusement manufacturer in Nevada. Harry E. Williams founded the company in the year 1943 as Williams Manufacturing Company. The company is known for developing video games and pinball machines. It has developed games like Arcade Video Game, Paddle Pong, Defender and Roborton 2084. The pinball game was one of the best selling William machines with almost around 1100 units sold. One year later Skill Pool gaming machine was sold about 2250 units. In the year 1966 Williams had invented an updated pinball gaming machine which had all the latest technologies included in it. It was recorded as the highest selling gaming machine, which had sold about 5100 units (Fernandes, Kawaguchi,  & Yamanaka, 2017).  In the year 1974 the company decided to acquire Magnetic Corporation of America in order to create the first arcade video game Paddle – Ball. In the year 1980 The Seeburg was sold to William Electronics. The company was then sold of to the son of the founder who took up  the company as a public company and made it run for the next two decades.

William Electronics also developed its own breakthrough hit, which was then released in the year 1980’s game Defender whose graphics, scrolling as well as other features influenced many of the gamers in those times. In this way the company had started gaining success. It was in the year 1981 when external gamers like the Joust Roborton 2084 and Sinster became very widely popular and they were given a place in the company to introduce new games (Johnson, Butler & Harootunian, 2018).

The present problem in the company is about choosing the right Vice President of the company from the three leaders. The company has been watching out for the political skirmishes among the three leading candidates of the company.

1.Whom do you think the Chief will be choosing as the new Vice President? Why?

From the ideas which are obtained in the case study, it is suggested that the Chief of William Electronics will be choosing Arnie Sander as the new Vice president as because he has worked as the head of a national engineering association of the company. He was also awarded as “the future of William Electronics”. He is the only one in the company at present known for holding the rank of Ph.D. in electrical engineering from MIT, as well as he was recently acknowledged as the genius behind the company’s most innovative products.

Choosing the Right Vice President

2.Whom do you think should get the job? Why ?

Arnie Sander will be getting the job because he is the most experienced person in the company. He is also the leader of the research and development head of the company. He is one of the most experienced person in the company who is known for holding the rank of Ph.D. in the field of electrical engineer from the MIT. He get acknowledged for being the genius in company’s most innovative products designed by the company.

3.What role might impression management play in the decision?

The impression management is a conscious process where people attempt to influence the perception and decision of other people or about choosing a person. They are known for doing so by regulating and controlling the information in a process of social interaction. An example of impression management theory in this case study is that the three candidates are in a position of getting chosen by the Chief in a position of the new Vice President of the company. They will be performing their best and showcase their skills in order to impress the Chief in a way to increase their chances of being chosen as the Vice president of the company (Fadli,  Prestwich & Sykes-Muskett, 2018).

4.What types of leadership exist at William?

The leadership styles which exists at William Electronics are:

Authoritarian Leadership – These are also known as the autocratic leaders who provide a clear view and describes a summary for what is needed to be done, how it is to be done and when it is to be done. The leaders here take decisions independently with almost no input from the rest of the group. Autocratic leadership style is best applied to those situations where the time for decision making is very less. This type of leadership skills works best when the decision has to be delivered very fast and rapid (Cooper, 2015). 

Participative Leadership – These types of leaders are also known as the democratic leaders which is typically the most effective leadership style in a company. The democratic leaders are known for offering guidance t the members of the company. They also allow input from the other group in order to maintain the flow of communication in the organization. These types of leaders encourage the members in order to participate in group works. The group members in a way feel positive and are motivated in the process. These types of leaders are tends to make the members of the organization feel that they are also an important member of the team. Therefore it can be concluded that this helps the members of the company to stimulate their commitment in order to achieve the goals and aims of the company (Komives & Wagner, 2016).

Types of Leadership at William

Delegative Leadership – The delegative leader are known offering little or no guidance at all to the group members of the company and leaves the decision making to the members of the organization (Rosenbach, 2018). But these style of leadership can be very useful in various types of situation which involves very high and well qualified experts, this can often lead to poor roles as well as lack of motivation (Shamir & Eilam-Shamir, 2018).

5.Types of motivation which appears at Williams?

Achievement motivation is required in the drive to attain and pursue the goals. The individuals in the organization with achievement motivation wish to achieve objective and advances up the ladder of success. Competence motivation is also required in order to drive something good, allowing the talented individual to perform high quality of work. The competence motivated members in an organization  are dedicated in order to take pride in the development of the career and use their own skills in problem driving areas and obstacles (Kacprzak-Biernacka et al., 2018).

6.Is the horse race for the Vice President is healthy?

The horse race for the position of Vice President is healthy as because it leads to the appraisal of the existing employee and creates employment. It also increases the motivation of the existing employees and leads to better productivity.

7.Relate this case to one or more chapter from the textbook?

Chapter number 10, which is all about taking different kinds of decisions taken in an organization. Chapter number 4, which deals with the personality, skills and abilities of members in an organization. Chapter 1 which deals with the introduction to organizational behavior and the mission is to educate, inspire, and empower leaders to understand and utilize exponentially advancing technologies to address humanity’s grand challenges, are explained in the chapter which can be related with this case.

8.What did you learn from the case?

The things, which can be learned from the case study, are how to be decisive that is a reality for any leader is that many people need decision from the leader. Being inspirational is another most important factor which can be learned from Billy Evans. Being the least experienced in the company, he manages the finance department with his sharp brain. 

References

Campbell-Kelly, M. (2018). Computer, Student Economy Edition: A History of the Information Machine. Routledge.

Carpentier, J., & Mageau, G. A. (2016). Predicting sport experience during training: The role of change-oriented feedback in athletes’ motivation, self-confidence and needs satisfaction fluctuations. Journal of sport and exercise psychology, 38(1), 45-58.

Cooper, D. (2015). Effective safety leadership: Understanding types & styles that improve safety performance. Professional Safety, 60(02), 49-53.

Fadli, F., Prestwich, A., & Sykes-Muskett, B. (2018). Assessing Mediating Effect of Motivation Types on Competition Intervention For Physically Inactive Adults. Jurnal Ilmiah Peuradeun, 6(1), 1-16.

Fernandes, R., Kawaguchi, I., & Yamanaka, T. (2017, June). Multisensory Games on Children’s Empathetic Feelings and Cooperative Behavior: Developing a Kansei-Based Sensory Playground Design Workshop. In Proceedings of the 2017 Conference on Interaction Design and Children (pp. 417-421). ACM.

Haerens, L., Aelterman, N., Vansteenkiste, M., Soenens, B., & Van Petegem, S. (2015). Do perceived autonomy-supportive and controlling teaching relate to physical education students’ motivational experiences through unique pathways? Distinguishing between the bright and dark side of motivation. Psychology of sport and exercise, 16, 26-36.

Johnson, W. G., Butler, R. J., & Harootunian, G. (2018). Mixing Electronic and Non-Electronic Health Records Limits Physician Productivity-The Arizona Experience. EJBI, 14(4), 12-19.

Kacprzak-Biernacka, E., Skura-Madzia?a, A., Kopa?ski, Z., Brukwicka, I., Lishchynskyy, Y., & Mazurek, M. (2015). The Concept of Motivation, its Types and Motivation Subjects. Journal of Clinical Healthcare, 14(2014_3), 02-05.

Komives, S. R., & Wagner, W. (Eds.). (2016). Leadership for a better world: Understanding the social change model of leadership development. John Wiley & Sons.

Rashid, M. H. (Ed.). (2017). Power electronics handbook. Butterworth-Heinemann.

Rosenbach, W. E. (2018). Contemporary issues in leadership. Routledge.

Shamir, B., & Eilam-Shamir, G. (2018). “What’s your story?” A life-stories approach to authentic leadership development. In Leadership Now: Reflections on the Legacy of Boas Shamir (pp. 51-76). Emerald Publishing Limited.