Andrea Jung orchestrates Avon’s Makeover Essay Example

global beauty company. Avon Products is successfully become the world’s largest direct seller. Andrea Jung is the first female executive who is appointed as the CEO and chairman of Avon Products. During her tenure as CEO of Avon Products for a decade, she has successfully reinvented the company moving from traditional and door-to-door sales to the global world and now the company has become one of the world’s biggest online retailers.

Andrea Jung keeps unwavering confidence in her strategy and achieves impressive results as she demonstrates her commitments by keep increasing the number of sales from billion to billions. Her strong vision, high standards, deep knowledge of the business, and the high level of confidence in doing the business of Avon Products make people describe her as “ The Rock Star of Avon”. Her friendly smile and string dedication to the company send a message of confidence and success. According to Andrea, there is a big significant difference between being a leader and being a manager. Leaders lead from heart and the flexibility is the key ingredients for being successful leaders.

Andrea Jung’s Leadership Style Andrea Jung is one of charismatic leader because she has strong need for power and high level of self-confidence as she has successfully reinvented the company moving from traditional and door-to-door sales to the global world and now the company has become one of the world’s biggest online retailers. Beside that, she has strong conviction on her own vision and strategies for the Avon Products Company to keep increasing the sales.

Andrea Jung is also carrying transformational leadership style because she brings positive major changes in the

Avon products Company. Andrea Jung confidently started her strategies by undertaking the makeover Avon by pouring money into research and development, expanding the overseas markets, and focusing on jazzy marketing. Jung is practically success reinvented the company. She united its disconnect international operations into what she called a global company for women. Soon after running the strategies, Andrea Jung got in the impressive result, which is the jumped-sales over billion.

In addition to her contribution and dedication for the Avon Products Company, Andrea Jung is also achieved success in the Corporate Social Responsibility building Avon Foundation of Women. Together Avon and the Avon Foundation of Women join the campaign to end violence against women, respond quickly to the disasters all over the world, focus its funding on breast cancer research, and participate in preventing global warming in the world.

The Elements of Charismatic and Transformational Leadership Based on the theory, I characterize Andrea Jung as a social charismatic leader as the reason she is a leader who restrains power to benefit others. The followers of socialized charismatic leader may empowered and responsible. In the fact, Andrea Jung believes that behind her vision and strategy for the company development, there are right people with require capabilities and talent. So, as a charismatic leader, Andrea Jung takes communication skills as the important key in building morale, trust and respect. She prioritizes her people above the products.

For instance, she took the reinventing without alienating the sales force the Avon Ladies instead she lets them participate in the process. She trains and let people involved decision-making rather forcing the necessary changes from the top. She

also enjoys building consensus among her team and making sure everyone voices is heard. Besides all, the charisma also showed by her strong vision, high standards, deep knowledge of the business, and the high level of confidence in doing the business of Avon Products make people describe her as “ The Rock Star of Avon”. Her friendly smile and string dedication to the company send a message of confidence and success.

According to Robbins & Judge, the transformational leaders inspire followers to transcend their own self-interests for the good of the organization and are capable of having a profound and extraordinary effect on their followers (2007, p.437). The transformational leadership style encourages Andrea Jung in order to raise people’s awareness about the objectives of Avon Products Company and how to achieve them. She helps people look beyond self-interest and self-fulfillment by demonstrating her commitment to them by increasing the incentives for the direct sales representatives and free trading online and gas money. She is also helping people to understand the need for change and make people commit to the greatness of the company.

The Elements of Neo Charismatic Theories According to Nahavandi, the theories of Neo charismatic leadership is a first step in addressing a growing need in today’s organizations for understanding how leaders create and implement their vision and how they orchestrate and manage large-scale change (2012, p.181). Andrea Jung presents two elements of neo charismatic theories. Andrea Jung has her different aspects of leader and her role as inspirational visionaries and builders of organizational cultures. She is successfully in changing the company culture through the reinvention of Avon Products Company into

what she called a global woman company. One of Jung’s personal passions is helping women advance. She believes that women are the answer to many economics and social challenges.

Another element of neo charismatic leadership that she presents is she highlights the importance of her employees’ emotional reaction. Andrea Jung cares about the employee’s self-awareness, self-interest, builds their morale, trust and respects. She provides free training online and lets people take participation in decision-making.

Leadership Traits and Skills Might be Adopt The traits of leadership I may adopt are communication skills, self-confidence, trustworthiness, enthusiasm, optimism, and warmth. All of theses let the followers build their moral, motivations, trust, and respects. Another aspect I have learned from this case study is the skills of leadership which important for leadership success. The creativity on vision and strategy can help us toward the better organizational change like Andrea Jung has done. The creativity gives the ability to make effective decision in business opportunity. She looks the better opportunity by changing the Avon Products into global company. Motivation skill is also necessary, increasing incentives, giving free online training and let people participate can motivate people. Besides all, effective leader must have the charisma, strong vision, knowledge of the business, and the high level of confidence in doing the business I might have later.