(BUS511) The Founder and Team Assignment Writing

Introduction

Entrepreneurial leaders are winning the race to attract and keep the best talent. The entrepreneurial leadership approach manifests itself in actions and behaviors that attract and keep the best talent. This is vital in new ventures because the key to their success is the talent and quality of the lead entrepreneur and founding time. There is little time or priority in a start-up for coaching, training, mentoring, and development new hires.

There is a strong connection between the growth potential of a venture and the quality of its management team. A quality management team can be the difference between a life style firm and a higher potential venture. Building a higher potential venture without a quality team is extremely difficult. The quality of the team is also important.

Text Exhibit 9.1 represents a theoretical view of the stages of growth and the transitions that occur at different boundaries in the process. All firms go through stages of growth, represented by an S-shaped curve. In the real world, the curve would be a jagged line as these companies go through periods of rapid progress followed by setbacks. It is at the boundaries between stages that new ventures seem to experience transitions. Coping with these crucial transitions is challenging.

The startup stage is by far the most perilous stage. This stage covers the first 2 to 7 years and is characterized by the drive, energy, and entrepreneurial talent of the lead entrepreneur. Here, investor, banker, and customer confidence is earned. The level of sales range between $2 million and $20 million.

At the high growth stage, new ventures exhibit a 60% plus failure rate - the length of time varies greatly. The most difficult challenge for the founding entrepreneur occurs when he or she finds it necessary to let go of control and when key responsibilities should be delegated.

In the maturity stage, the key issue is no longer survival; rather it is steady, profitable growth. The stability stage usually follows.

Managing for rapid growth involves a management orientation not found in stable environments. Managers invariably have responsibilities far exceeding their authority. Power and influence are derived from achieving one’s own goals and from contributing to the achievement of others. In rapid-growth firms, power and control are delegated. Successful entrepreneurs are able to exert influence without formal power. They learn to get along with many different constituencies, often with conflicting aims, and incorporate mutual respect, openness, trust, and mutual effort into their management style.

Much of business education traditionally has prepared students for life in the administrative domain. To prepare to lead growing new ventures, you need to be aware of the required skills for the entrepreneurial domain. 30 BUS511 Entrepreneurship Course Syllabus

Effective entrepreneurial leaders must be skillful at managing conflict and building teamwork and consensus. In large firms, necessary skills include:

• Power and persuasion skills.
• Skill in managing problems in team and employee participation.
• Skill in understanding change is needed.

The fundamentals used by team-builder entrepreneurs are also used by effective middle managers.

Next this lesson examines the process of ethical decision making. What is ethical and what is not? Often it is not obvious. Situations involving ethical issues are frequently ambiguous and businesspeople often receive conflicting signals. An article in the Harvard Business Review asserted that the ethics of business were not those of society, but rather those of the poker game. The author argued that businessmen, in their office lives, cease to be private citizens - they become game players guided by a different set of ethical standards. He also argued that personal ethics and business ethics are often not in harmony and must be resolved by negotiation and compromise.

The law is also full of thorny issues. Laws are ethical in intent and deserve respect. However, laws are made by legislatures and:

• Do not anticipate new conditions.
• Do not always have the effect they were intended to have.
• Sometimes conflict with one another.
• Are incapable of making judgments where multiple ethical considerations hang in the balance.

A code of laws has always been accompanied by a human interpreter of laws.

Lesson Learning Objectives

By the conclusion of this lesson you should be able to:

• Identify stages of growth that firms experience, and the competencies and skills that are relevant for leading a venture through these turbulent waters.
• Explain the difference between an entrepreneurial leader and an administrator or manager and discuss why the team is so important.
• Articulate the skills, competencies, and philosophies entrepreneurial-thinking founders apply as they form, build, and lead a new venture team, and discuss the critical hurdles they face.
• Analyze issues of rewards and equity ownership in a new venture and develop a pro forma approach for your own venture.
• Relate to the importance of ethical awareness and high standards in an entrepreneurial career.
• Provide some practical guidelines, tips, and advice for confronting and making sound ethical decisions.

Reading

Study Chapters 9 and 10 of the text.

View the Power Points for Chapters 9 and 10.

Web Resources

Chapter 9

http://fed.org - As a private foundation, the Foundation for Enterprise Development seeks to foster the advancement of entrepreneurial scientific and technology enterprises.

http://www.eonetwork.org/ - The Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) is a membership organization designed to engage leading entrepreneurs to learn and grow. We are a global community of business owners, all of whom run companies that exceed $1M (US) in revenue.

http://www.managementhelp.org - The Free Management Library offers comprehensive resources regarding the leadership and management of yourself, other individuals, groups, and organizations. Its content is relevant to the vast majority of people, whether they are in large or small for-profit or nonprofit organizations.

Chapter 10

http://www.business-ethics.com/ - Business Ethics is an online publication that offers information, opinion, and analysis of critical issues in the field of corporate responsibility.

http://www.business-ethics.org - An international institute fostering global business practices to promote equitable economic development, resource sustainability, and just forms of government.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/business-ethics-quarterly - Business Ethics Quarterly publishes scholarly articles from a variety of disciplinary orientations that focus on the general subject of the application of ethics to the international business community.32 BUS511– Entrepreneurship Course Syllabus

http://www.managementhelp.org/ethics/ethics.htm - A range of papers and articles on ethics from the Free Management Library.

Assignments

The following Assignments should be completed and submitted to the course faculty via the learning platform for evaluation and grading. Submit your responses to these questions in one WORD document. List the question first, and then your response.

Your response must adequately cover the question without being wordy or relying on “yes” or “no” responses.

Short Answer Questions

1. Define the stages that most companies experience as they grow and explain the leadership issues and requirements anticipated at each stage.
2. Describe what is meant by “team” philosophy and attitudes. Why are these important?
3. What are the most critical questions a lead entrepreneur needs to consider in thinking through the team issue? Why? What are some of the common pitfalls in team building?
4. What are the critical rewards, compensation, and incentive issues in putting a team together? Why are these so crucial and difficult to manage?
5. How does the lead entrepreneur allocate stock ownership and options in the new venture? Who should get what ownership and why?
6. What conclusions and insights emerged from the ethics exercise?
7. Why have ethical stereotypes emerged and how have they changed?
8. Why is ethics so important to entrepreneurial and other success?
9. Why do many entrepreneurs and CEOs believe ethics can and should be taught?
10. What are the most difficult ethical dilemmas that entrepreneurs face, and why?
11. Describe an actual example of how and why taking a high ethical ground results in a good decision for business.

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