eBay Company is a widely known online company that was launched in 1995. eBay is recognized for providing an internet platform where people can buy, sell or trade their goods online. eBay encourages business people to auction their goods in eBay web since they are charged small fee compared to other online trading companies. eBay uses marketplaces which provide set-ups that encourages usage of various formats in online commerce and, the payment segment which joins different networks that enables small businesses and individuals to access various online payment transactions as intentions to facilitate the growth of the Company. This paper compares the different leadership styles that were implemented by Whitman and Donahoe as CEOs of eBay.
Comparison of Leadership Styles of Whitman and Donahoe
eBay has had different CEO’s who have been implementing a variety of leadership styles in managing the company. Meg Whitman and John Donahoe are examples of CEO’s who employed strong leadership styles in growing eBay online Company. Both Whitman and Donahoe also faced different challenges while trying to achieve the level of success eBay Company have acquired over the years. During her reign as the CEO, Whitman was able to create and develop marketplace and e-commerce revolt. On the other hand, Donahoe as a good leader focused on the ways of impacting the lives of people surrounding the eBay Company (Urlocker, 2009).
Whitman as eBay CEO demonstrated transformational leadership styles. In her leadership, Meg led to the transformation of eBay organization through collective collaboration. Whitman used to encourage teamwork among the employees and this involved including both inferior and superior workers in transforming the organization collectively. Secondly, Meg illustrated supportive leadership style. Humphrey (2016) argues that Whitman motivated and inspired eBay employees by trusting and respecting her employees. She could appreciate the role of her team members and their diverse thoughts. As an effective leader, Meg used the leadership strategy of creating a synergy where she enhanced executive support in motivating eBay employees. Thus, the concept of sharing of mutual attentiveness and opinion was enhanced. Lastly, Hill and Maria (2000) agrees that Meg Whitman employed the leadership style of good timekeeping. She encouraged timekeeping among the employees as she demonstrated it by being at all meetings on time before everyone else.
John Donahoe demonstrated path-goal leadership style where he focused on the influence that eBay swayed on people surrounding it. He did not give his attention to the growing rates of income of eBay Company. Based on Bryant article (2009) Donahoe alleged that for the company to attain higher growth rates, influencing people’s lives positively would affect the growth continuously. Secondly, Donahoe implemented democratic leadership style as eBay CEO. Donahoe believed that knowledge did not originate from superiors only but could also come from the low ranked employees. Thus, he at no time ignored another person’s ideology since he regarded himself as an ordinary employee of eBay Company. He, therefore, maintained the interactions with fellow workers at eBay. Moreover, Donahoe improved the confidence and attitude of his subordinate employees towards work by giving them days off work. In that case, eBay Company acknowledges Meg and Donahoe among its best CEO leaders.
Conclusion
The leadership of eBay has helped in promoting the success eBay has achieved over the years. By focusing on the employees surrounding the company, John Donahoe style satisfied the workers leading to better company performance. On the other hand, Meg Whitman inspired and motivated the employees through supportive leadership while encouraging teamwork. Both leaders played a vital role in helping eBay achieve the various levels of success in online marketing.
Bibliography
Bryant, A. 2009. An Interview with John Donahoe CEO of eBay. The New York Times Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/business/05corner.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Hill, L. A., & Maria, F. 2000. Meg Whitman at eBay Inc. (A). Harvard Business School Case 401-024.
Humphrey, R. H. 2016. Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay: transparency in business. http://sk.sagepub.com/cases/meg-whitman-former-ceo-of-ebay-transparency-in-business.
Lewis, P. S. 2007. Management: challenges for tomorrow's leaders. Mason, OH, Thomson/South-Western.
Urlocker, Z. 2009. eBay CEO on Leadership. InfoWorld. Retrieved from http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source/ebay-ceo-leadership-359
