LEADERSHIP – INDIVIDUAL TERM PAPER

Leadership – Individual Term Paper

Mohammad Hatta Bin Adam

Matric No 814970

Master of Business Administration

Universiti Utara Malaysia

INDIVIDUAL TERM PAPER

TASKS

1. Select an individual that was considered as a leader from your own perspective
2. Discuss the individual’s ability in responding to the situation/scenario. Please state
the situation/scenario faced by the respective leader in the paper
3. Consider theories and concepts in leadership in the discussion
4. Conclude your findings and make comment in related to the individual related to
the situation/scenario

OBJECTIVES

1. To assess analytical ability in examining individual’s leadership in their respective

organization
2. To evaluate individual’s leadership in responding to the situation/scenario
involved
3. To integrate theory and concept of leadership in respective to the subject

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Table of Contents

Page
1.0 Introduction 4
1.1 What is Leadership 4

2.0 Identified Leader – Dato’ Sri Mohammed Shazalli Ramly 5-10

2.1 Leader’s Background 5
2.2 Overall Key Achievements 5-6
2.3 Leadership Discussion
 A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step 6-7
 Leadership determines the direction of the company 7-9
 Leadership styles applied 9-10
 Confidence 10

3.0 Conclusion 10-11

4.0 Reference 11-12

5.0 Appendix 1 13

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Introduction

1.1 What is Leadership

Leadership has been one of the most discussed and studied item for most management and business
schools. Several theories have been put forward, debated, reviewed and revisited by scholars and
management gurus, moving beyond the traditional theories - though some are still relevant – trying to
determine the specific practices and practical model associated with leadership.

Why is it very important? From a layman perspective, effective leadership is seen crucial in leading
a group of people which can be a nation, an organization or your own family through times of peril in
deciding, leading and showing them the right direction towards great success and accomplishments.

There are quite a number of definitions for leadership, but the following three excerpts can
summarize the definition well.
a. Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real
changes and outcomes that reflect their shared purposes (Daft, 2011, p. 5).
b. Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards
the achievement of a goal (Kruse, 2013).
c. Leadership is an attempt to use influence to motivate individuals to achieve some goals
(Hersey-Blanchard, n.d.).

There are some notable key elements with all the definitions which are:
1. Influence: There is no element of authority or power.
2. Followers, others, individuals: Leaders require others and it doesn’t has to be direct reports
3. Shared purpose, goals: All the influence exerts by leaders unto followers (and others) are
meant to achieve identified goals and purpose

Leadership has nothing to do with seniority, one’s position or title in an organization or community.
In fact a plain worker or a commoner can also be a leader as long as he or she carries the above notable
elements. Therefore, leadership can be both positive and negative in terms of influence. Leaders such as
Adolf Hitler and Fidel Castro brought negative influences. Whether leaders carry with them positive or
negative influence will very much depend on individuals’ perception, but as far as leadership definition is
concerned, they are leaders.

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Identified Leader – Dato’ Sri Mohammed Shazalli Ramly

2.1 Leader’s Background

Dato’ Sri Mohammed Shazalli or better known as Dato’ Shaz in Celcom, was appointed as the Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) and Director of Celcom Axiata Berhad on September 1st, 2005. He hails from
Lenggong Perak, graduated from ITM Perlis in 1982, holds a Bachelor of Science (Marketing) from
Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana and a Master of Business Administration from St. Louis
University, Missouri, USA (Frost & Sullivan, n.d).

His working experience started off with a humble beginning as a self-employed yoghurt seller for
one year at Jalan Raja Alang at Kampung Baru as Malaysia was experiencing total recession when he
came back from the USA. He had his first break as a Management Trainee at Unilever (1987 – 1993),
followed by the Malaysian Tobacco Company (MTC) and British American Tobacco (BAT) (1993 –
1996), both in Malaysia and the United Kingdom. He then joined ASTRO as Marketing Director for two
years (1996 - 1998) and his last assignment before his stint in Celcom was as the Chief Executive Officer
(CEO) of ntv7, a position he had held since its launch in 1998 until 2005 (Frost & Sullivan, n.d).
.

2.2 Overall Key Achievements

Dato’ Shaz left his mark in every company that he had set his foot on. Frost & Sullivan (n.d) lists his
achievements as follow. .He was instrumental in bringing Unilever, MTC and BAT to greater heights in
brand presence, significant increase in sales and regaining leadership in targeted segments. He was the
brain behind the Research and Development (R&D) and marketing of Super Busa, a well-known washing
soap brand in late 80’s for Unilever. Moving on overseas while in BAT, he played a huge role in the
global success of brands such as the 555 Subaru World Rally Team and Championship. He then set forth
and pioneered the launch of ASTRO digital satellite services in Malaysia and later led ntv7 to new heights
with fresh branding and catchy taglines such as “your feel good channel”.

His biggest achievement thus far is with Celcom. Celcom hit rock bottom in 2005, but under his
leadership, Celcom has evolved and improved by leaps and bounds since then. Based on 2012 Axiata
Annual Report, Celcom recorded an unmatched 27 consecutive quarters of revenue growth with the
highest service revenue growth and PATAMI in the industry (Axiata Group Berhad, 2012). Under his
helm, Celcom has clinched the Service Provider of the Year Award by Frost & Sullivan for four years in a

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row since 2009. In his own capacity, Dato’ Shaz has been recognized for his leadership and tenacity,
receiving various awards including Masterclass CEO of the Year Award, CEO of the Year by PC.Com
Reader’s choice Awards, and the Business Leadership Award for the Telecommunications Sector at the
Malaysia Business Leadership Awards organized by the Kuala Lumpur Malay Chamber of Commerce
(Axiata Group Berhad, 2012).

2.3 Leadership Discussion

The reason why Dato’ Shaz is chosen as the subject of the discussion is because it is intriguing to
know how he is able to transform a company that was once a leader in its industry but then fell from
grace. How he responded to the challenge and the leadership that he has shown during the transformation
journey will be discussed. Hence, how did Dato’ Shaz manage to turn such a company to where it is
today?

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. What is the single step required to turn-
around a company of 4000 odd people in strength from zero to hero again? George (2009) mentions that
leaders cannot solve problems if they do not acknowledge their (problems) existence. Leaders must face
reality. Dato’ Shaz during a forum organized by Hay Group Malaysia back on May 2010 acknowledged
that when he joined Celcom in 2005, it was basically a “burning platform” and a company at war (Tan,
2010). He states that Celcom lost its overall lead to Maxis and its prepaid subscriber to DiGi and it had
been hit with RM900 million in lawsuits. He further mentions that Internal employee engagement survey
conducted by consultants showed that 70% of the employees wanted to leave.

Most business reviewers considered Celcom is at her lowest and has hit rock bottom and the good
thing about hitting rock bottom is that it cannot get any worse. That is not the case with Dato’ Shaz, and it
is in line with George’s view where he clearly states that no matter how bad things are, they will get worse
(George, 2009). The make believe “it could not be worse than where we are now” attitude will causes
leaders to be complacent and as a consequence, they end up taking measures, none of which is powerful
enough to correct the downward spiral. It is far better for leaders to anticipate the worst and strategize
accordingly.

Dato’ Shaz disclosed during Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies 2010 Forum on 26th May
where he is one of the guest speakers, employee engagement coupled with clear key performance
indicators (KPI) and investment in innovation was crucial in laying the basic foundation of the turn-
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around that Celcom experience (Tan, 2010). Once the foundation is in place, then only the transformation
journey begins and the area of focus will be revisited. In Celcom’s case, three focus areas became the
center of the transformation process – business strategic direction, human capital and talent management
and organizational development. All these have been clearly drafted and communicated to all employees
as can be seen in Appendix 1 (Celcom Axiata Berhad, n.d)

In order to catalyst the business turn-around, Celcom launched a Performance Improvement

Programme (PIP) from 2006-2008 (Celcom Axiata Berhad, n.d) to support its mission in moving towards
High Performance Transformation. Among key milestones during this period are, but not limited to:
a) Celcom introduces Blue Cube branches to enable its customers to experience the service
and products from Celcom
b) Celcom enters a partnership with its first Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO)
partner, to offer prepaid services to foreign workers from nine countries.

c) As a result, Celcom recorded 11 consecutive quarters of revenue growth as of 2008

December end

Post 2008 is when the transformation journey begins and some key milestones (Axiata Group
Berhad, 2012) are as follow:
a) Celcom launches key products such as SOX, UOX, XL that paves the way for its success
in the industry from 2009 onwards
b) Axiata and Celcom sleep with the enemy - signs a MOU with DiGI in June 2010 to explore
the viability of sharing network infrastructure, an out-of-the-box method which is proven
beneficial to both party in reducing cost, so far
c) Celcom recorded an unmatched 27 consecutive quarters of revenue growth with the highest
service revenue growth and PATAMI in the industry by 2012 December end.

Celcom is now on track to regain its number one spot as Malaysia mobile service provider by 2015
as outlined in Celcom House of Transformation.

Leadership determines the direction of the company. What type of leadership that Dato’ Shaz
possesses? It is obvious that being a CEO he has the power bestowed upon him by the organization.
However, taking into account what Dato’ Shaz has done to Celcom from the day he stepped into the CEO
office and how it was done; he rely more on influence rather than power. He has the ability to bring out

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significant change in both followers and the organization. He also has the ability to lead changes in an
organization’s vision, strategy, and culture as well as promote innovation in products and technologies.
All the above best fits the definition of Transformational Leadership by Daft (Daft, 2011, p.320).

There are four dimensions of leadership behaviour that are critical to the transformational
relationship (also known as the “four I's”): idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual
stimulation, and individual consideration (Hall, Johnson, Wysocki, and Kepner, 2012) elaborated as
follow:

1. Idealized influence. Kelloway et al. (2003, cited in pmcounseling, 2011)) mentioned that
Idealized Influence is manifested when leaders act in a consistent way and are seen as
dependable by those who follow. Dato’ Shaz exhibits these criteria when he came out with
Performance Improvement Programme (PIP) back in 2006 and Celcom House of
Transformation from 2008 – 2015 with a consistent message of being number 1 in mobile
service provider (Celcom Axiata Berhad, n.d). His vibe is transmitted to all Celcom
employees and he is able to influence and get the buy in from all employees to work with
him to achieve the goals.

2. Inspirational motivation describes leaders who motivates and arouses followers, who
display charismatic leadership and able to convey emotional and communicate a clear
vision of the organization to the followers. Dato’ Shaz is able to captivate his audience, be
it Celcom employees or external parties with his vision. He is able to elevate the spirit of
Celcom employee to the extent that the same 70% employee who wanted to leave the
company back in 2005 has opted to stay and work with Celcom. Based on 2012 employee
engagement survey, 73% of Celcom employee is willing to continue working with Celcom
under the same management (Celcom Axiata Berhad, n.d).

3. Intellectual Stimulation describes leaders who encourage innovation and creativity through
challenging the normal beliefs or views of a group. Leaders with intellectual stimulation
promote critical thinking and problem solving to make the organization better. Dato’ Shaz
promotes and look highly on innovation. Under his reign, innovative ideas such as 1)
Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) partnership has allowed Celcom to have
additional channels to reach niche segments with strong growth potential; 2) having its own
Consumer Lab Behavior Centre (CLBC) since 2009 to transform Celcom from a
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 conservative qualitative researchers dependent into an in-house consumer-centric
organization that works towards fulfilling expectations of customers by studying their
behaviors, attitudes and needs closely; 3) smart industry collaboration for better services
and long-term cost savings by engaging infrastructure sharing with DiGi which is
beneficial for both parties

4. Individual consideration describes leaders who act as coaches and advisors to the followers
(pmcouseling, 2011). Transformational leaders listen, learn and develop not only their own
ways of thinking but those around them. Dato’ Shaz meets his direct reports on weekly
basis on every Tuesday for a round table discussion, sharing and exchanging ideas. On top
of that, he shares his passion and company status that motivate the whole Celcom
employees through a town hall meeting which is set up once every quarter. He also
welcomes inputs from all across the level during this session as well.

Leadership styles applied. Leadership style refers to the pattern of behaviour an individual leader
uses across the full range of leadership situation (Hay Group, 2011, p.1). Although there are unlimited
leadership situations, Hay Group (n.d., p.3) identified six most effective leadership styles that leaders
apply to the situations that they encounter:
1. Directive – emphasis on immediate compliance from employees
2. Visionary – emphasis on providing long term vision and leadership
3. Affiliative – emphasis on creating harmony
4. Participative – emphasis on group consensus and creating new ideas
5. Pacesetting – emphasis on accomplishing tasks to high standards
6. Coaching – emphasis on professional growth on employees

Leaders must be matured enough and possess the capability to diagnose the demands of the situation at
hand in order to determine which leadership styles to be applied. NHA consulting (n.d., p4) mentioned
that the more comfortable the leader in using any and all the six styles appropriately, the better the leader
will be received by the employees and gain their support. I have seen Dato’ Shaz using all the above
mentioned styles in various occasions. Below are some samples which I can relate with, but not limited to:
1. Directive was used when it comes to policy and audit compliance. He applied no nonsense
approach as this will have a direct impact on the company reputation and how it will be
perceived by all the interested parties.

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 2. Visionary was used when Celcom House of Transformation was introduced. He sets a very
clear direction where we want to go and what are the focused areas that we need to emphasize
and work on.
3. Affiliative – one good example is recent launch of Celcom very own childcare centre called
“Little Blue Planet”. It is aimed at ensuring peace of mind for employees during working hours
by providing comfortable childcare for their kids.
4. Participative – Dato’ Sri encourage Celcom employees to voice out their thoughts and come
out with out-of-the-box ideas. Creativity and sterling performance are rewarded handsomely.
5. Pacesetting. He has high expectations and standards of excellence. This is also because of the
extraordinary results that Celcom has been delivering since he is in charge. Celcom is one of
Khazanah’s cash cow and Dato’ Shaz is expected to deliver every time. The level is set higher
every year and being stretched internally thus there is no room for mistake and complacency.
6. Coaching. Dato’ Shaz acknowledges talents and he has also groomed his successor. He also
supports mentor-mentee programme in order to ensure Celcom is never short of talents and
should be the “factory” to export talents not only within Axiata companies but for Malaysian
market as a whole.

Confidence. During an interview, Dato’ Shaz mentioned that his strong point is confidence
(ready4work.my, n.d.). It is crucial for a leader to be confident and that confidence level need to be seen
oozing from you. Moris (2011) mentions that people want to be led, but they will only follow leaders who
are confident in their ability to lead. Dato’ Shaz projects his confidence in the tone of his voice, good
posture, facial expression and his eye contact.

2.4 Conclusion
Leadership in plain English is purely an influence exercise exerts by leaders to the followers to
achieve common goals. It is usually associated with positive influence but history has proven that there are
negative influences, but as long as it fulfills the influencing criteria, the person is still a leader by the
academic definition. From an organization point of view, leadership is crucial and essential to provide a
clear direction to ensure they are successful and remain competitive in the current cutthroat business
environment.

Celcom was in dire situation in 2005 and required resuscitation in order to remain alive. The first
thing that Dato’ Shaz did when he joined Celcom in September 2005, was identifying the focus area that

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needed to be dealt with and put Celcom under Performance Improvement Programme (PIP) from 2006-
2008. Innovative ideas where implemented such as rebranding, MVNO engagement and Blue Cube has
helped Celcom to turn around and now Celcom goes to the second gear which is the transformation bit.
Dato’ Shaz has outlined it clearly for Celcom on the big picture. This is an indicator of a good and
effective leader. The approach that Dato’ Shaz has opted and implemented indicates resemblance to
transformational leadership which emphasizes more on influence rather than power in order to lead
changes in Celcom’s vision, strategy, and culture as well as to promote innovation in products and
technologies. He has also been very successful in engaging various leadership styles based on the situation
in hand. One of his biggest strength is high confidence level, and that can be visibly seen as he projects it
via his appearance, voice and other non-verbal means. However, it is also important to address that
confidence, if not substantiated with information, knowledge and experience is downright cockiness. It is
essential to always have a good check and balance to ensure the leader is always on track. This is where he
has another strong point whereby he has regular meetings with his direct reports which are also a wakeup
call and also a consistent town hall meeting with all employees.

As a whole, Dato’ Shaz has done a tremendous job to turn around and transform Celcom to where it
is now and has shown exceptional leadership quality that can be emulated by others who is inspired to
become a leader.

References
Axiata Group Berhad. (2012). Annual Report. Retrieved from
http://axiata.listedcompany.com/misc/ar2012.pdf
Celcom Axiata Berhad. (undated). Celcom House of Transformation. Unpublished.
Daft, R. L. (2011). Leadership (5th Ed.). China: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Frost & Sullivan. (undated). Movers & Shakers Interview with Dato’ Sri Shazalli Ramly CEO of
Celcom Axiata Berhad. Retrieved from http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/exec-brief-movers-
feature.pag?mode=open&sid=204528820
George, B. (2009, March 5). Seven Lessons for Leading in Crisis. Retrieved from
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123551729786163925.html
Hall, J., Johnson, S. , Wysocki, A. & Kepper, K (2012) Transformational Leadership: The
Transformation of Managers and Associates. Retrieved from http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hr020,
Hay Group. (2011, 22 October) .Feedback Report. Inventory of Leadership Styles Mohammad Hatta
Adam Celcom Axiata Berhad.

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Hersey-Blanchard. (undated). Leadership The Hersey–Blanchard Situational Leadership Model. Retrieved
from http://www.slideshare.net/wsyoong/hersey-blanchard-leadership-theory
Kruse, K. (2013, September 4). What is Leadership? Forbes. Retrieved from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2013/04/09/what-is-leadership/
Moris, M. (2011). The secret Character Trait. Management. 45 (1), 91-93
NHA consulting. (undated). Team Effectiveness & Engagement Skills. NHA consulting
Pmcounseling. (2011, December 17). What is Transformational Leadership. Retrieved from
http://pmcounseling.wordpress.com/tag/idealized-influence
Tan, E. (2010, June 14). What It Takes To Be The Worlds Most Admired Companies. Retrieved from
http://www.theedgemalaysia.com/management/167831-what-it-takes-to-be-the-worlds-most-
admired-companies.html
ready4work.my. (undated). Executive Talks: Dato’ Sri Shazalli Ramly. Retrieved from
(http://www.ready4work.my/get-that-job/executive-talk-dato-shaz/).

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APPENDIX 1 – CELCOM HOUSE OF TRANSFORMATION

Vision

Market Focus and Build Capabilities

Market Focus and Build Capabilities

Market Focus and Build Capabilities

Main Pillar for Transformation

Source: Celcom Axiata Berhad. (undated). Celcom House of Transformation. Unpublished.

Note: Some data are blocked due to private and confidential policy of the company.

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