Ali Khan
Fakhir Abbas
Gohar Ghaffar Khan
MBA-IV/II
Contents
Acknowledgement:...... 3
Reasons for Choosing the Mobilink:...... 4
Leadership Styles of CEOs at Mobilink:...... 5
Zouhair A. Khaliq:...... 5
Rashid Khan:...... 9
Acknowledgement
This report is a comprehensive report and aims at studying the leadership styles of Mr. Zouhair A. Khaliq and Mr. Arshad A. Khan of Mobilink, for our course“Leadership, Teamwork & Corporate Social Responsibility”. In regard to the report, first of all, we would like to thank Mr. Kamil Shahbazkar for providing us valuable thoughts and the directionto work on this report.He told us about the concept of the leadership, different leaders’ style of leadership and motivated us to become a leader rather than a manager. After that, we would like to thank Mr. S.M. Tahir Hussain & Mr. Waqar Ali Shah for their cooperation and support, whose support and assistance in preparing this report was immence and valuable.
Reasons for Choosing the Mobilink:
Mobilink is one of the first and the largest cellular service provider in Pakistan. It is growing continuously and now boasts of having 28 million subscribers—the largest in Pakistan.Mobilink provides state-of-the-art GSM technology to its customers, retail and corporate both.From the beginning, Mobilink has been on a phenomenal journey which has intrigued many how it became possible.
Mobilink’s evolution and growth can never be possible without the competent and the effective leadership such as of Zouhair A. Khaliq and his successor Rashid Khan. Under the leadership of Zouhair Khaliq, Mobilink began its journey in 2000. He built the foundation for the development of the company and then the reins of the company were transferred to the Rashid Khan and the rest is history. It has been compared to the likes of China Telecom, and Airtel, in the speed of its growth and value. It is a company that has contributed hugely to the success story of Pakistan
Leadership Stylesof the CEOs of Mobilink:
Mobilink has had 2 CEOs in the last 10 years. Therefore in this section we will be discussing and comparing the leadership styles and traits of those CEOs namely Mr.Zouhair A.Khaliq and Mr.Rashid Khan. Zouhair A. Khaliq:
Mr. Zouhair A. Khaliq qualified as a chartered accountant from the UK in 1984 and rose in the ranks quickly. He has got 22 years of top management experience. In 2001 he left Motorola when the entire industry was in decline due to the problems caused by 3G, however, before leaving, he oversaw the sell outs of Motorola's network operations in Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt and many other countries, to Orascom Telecom. Then, he joined a software development company called WCities as their Chief Operations Officer, but left in 2002 when he was offered the position of CFO at the Egyptian giant, Orascom Telecom. After joining Orascom Telecom, circumstances maneuvered so that ironically, he was to return to Pakistan as the President and CEO of the company from which he had found his opportunities in Motorola.
Mobilink is a joint venture between Orascom Telecom, and Saif Group of Companies. Since his return, Mobilink has seen massive growth and has established its position as a market leader in Pakistan.During his five and a half years at Mobilink,he led the Companywith distinction and with his capabilities made it to grow from under one million customers to over 30 million, deployed over US$ 2.5 billion worth ofnetwork, a nationwide optic fiber cable network and launched wireless broadband services under theMobilink Infinity brand.
It is also known that the company's name and first logo, were a result of brainstorming done, by him.Another little known fact is that the line, 'hum bolein mohabbat ki zaban'(we speak the language of love) the hugely popular song and advertisement by Mobilink within Pakistan and on many international channels as a tourism advertisement, was originally thought up by him, and provided to the singer of the song as a guideline for the rest of the lyrics. He also contributed largely to the invention of the new logo (as of 2004), and mottos for Mobilink, along with the post-paid brand, Indigo, which is the most widely liked and used corporate brand in Pakistan.
Leadership Characteristics of Mr. Zouhair Khaliq:
Zouhair Khaliq is a truly emergent leader rather than an assigned leader. Emergent leader is defined as an individual perceived by others as the most influential member of a group or organization regardless of the individual’s title. Mr. Zouhair Khaliq was also known to use his position as well as his personal power. He was a very friendly and interactive leader. He used to interact with his employees more often than not and he was a great supporter of delegation of powers to his employees. He was a mix of both task-oriented as well as person oriented. He was interested in training, instructing behavior, performance and winning as well as in the interpersonal relationships on the team.
He was a leader who used to lead by example. He was confident and disciplined. He served Mobilink as a very influential role model for his employees and whatever he used to do was watched by his employees. He always believed that there is a room for improvement in every function of Mobilink and he was in support of constant learning.
He has always made decisions that were based on facts and applied common sense and simplicity to complex tasks. He always selected the right strategy for the right situation even when the pressure was overwhelming. He was known to be well organized and his great knowledge and intelligence allowed him to be a great educator and motivator.
Leadership Traits:
Zouhair Khaliq was known to be a leader with immense emotional stability i.e he was able to tolerate frustration and stress. He was well- adjusted and had the psychological maturity to deal with anything he was required to face.
He was also considered as a very dominant leader and that was the reason that he was competitive and decisive. He used to enjoy overcoming the obstacles. He was assertive in his thinking style as well as his attitude in dealing with others.
He was usually seen as active, expressive and energetic. He was often very optimistic and open to change. He was also a very self- disciplined person himself and that was what he wanted from his employees too. He was considered to be a spontaneous risk-taker, socially aggressive and generally thick skinned. He was also known to be responsive to others and tend to be high in emotional stamina.
He was a practical, logical and to the point person. He was a person full of self confidence and resiliency. He was also a person with high energy and intuitiveness. Because he believed that only reasoning and logic will not be enough in every situation. He firmly believed in development of his employees and that was the reason that he considered his personal power and recognition as secondary things. He put a strong emphasis on team work. Instead of promoting an adult/child relationship with his employees, he created and adult/adult relationship which fostered team cohesiveness.
He also had a key trait of putting himself in the other person’s shoes because according to him one can’t build trust. And without trust one will never be able to get the best effort from his employees. People usually perceive leaders as larger than life. Charisma plays a large part in this perception. Zouhair khaliq had that perception and therefore he was able to arouse strong emotions in his employees by defining a vision. He had a very sociable and courteous personality. For example he used to easily connect to the employees and listened to them.
Leadership Style:
Zouhair Khaliq had a supportiveand the delegating style which could be called a democratic one. This style involves the leader including one or more employees in the decision making process (determining what to do and how to do it). However, the leader maintains the final decision making authority. Using this style is not a sign of weakness; rather it is a sign of strength that your employees will respect. This is normally used when the leader has part of the information, and your employees have other parts. Note that a leader is not expected to know everything -- this is why you employ knowledgeable and skillful employees. Using this style is of mutual benefit -- it allows them to become part of the team and allows you to make better decisions.
Zouhair Khaliq
Zouhair Khaliq was truly a charismatic leader as well as transformational leader too. He had a certain charisma about him that influenced his employees to respect him and do their best. He was definitely on the top tier of the following figure.
As a true charismatic leader he paid a great deal of attention in scanning and reading his environment and he was good at picking up the moods and concerns of both individuals and company as a whole. He was very persuasive and made very effective use of body language as well as verbal language. Being a transformational leader, his main focus was of transforming Mobilink and he did that to a great extent. While his values as a charismatic leader were very high and it were those values which actually elevated and transformed entire Mobilink.
Rashid Khan:
Rashid Khan brings vast management experience in telecommunications, IT, and other technologies to this country. For the last 14 years he held several management positions within the cellular business arena in the emerging markets. Earlier to that, for almost 15 years, he worked for various international companies where he acquired extensive working experience in developed markets, as well. Prior to this appointment, Rashid Khan was the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Banglalink (also an Orascom Telecom Company), the fastest growing cellular operator in Bangladesh. During his 2 years at Banglalink, the company grew by more than 3 times, achieved the No. 2 position in the market, and recently crossed the 10 million customers’ milestone. He had served as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Mobilink from 2003 to 2006 before the assignment in Bangladesh.couple of weeks. He joined Mobilink as CEO in December, 2008.
Leadership Traits:
The most prominent traits of Mr. Rashid Khan that contributed to his success as a leader are Intelligence, Integrity and Determination. Now we will take a bird’s eye view of his personality traits;
Intelligence:
Intelligence is something that can be difficult to develop, and Mr. Rashid Khan was abundantly gifted this quality. Intelligence or intellectual ability is positively related to leadership. Having strong verbal ability, perceptual ability, and reasoning appears to make one a better leader. Leaders with higher abilities may face difficulty in communicating with followers because they are preoccupied or because their ideas are too advanced to be accepted by their followers. But this was not the case with Mr. Rashid rather he was able to clearly articulate his thoughts.
Integrity:
Integrity is another of the important leadership traits of Mr. Rashid Khan. Integrity is the quality of honesty and trustworthiness. Individuals who adhere to a strong set of principles and take responsibility for their actions are exhibiting integrity. Leaders with integrity inspire confidence in to others because they can be trusted to do what they say they are going to do. Basically, integrity makes a leader believable and worthy of trust. This quality makes Rashid Khan a trustworthy and reliable person.
Determination
Another the most important trait that contributed to the success of Rashid Khan is Determination. Determination refers to the desire to get the job done and includes characteristics such as initiative, persistence, dominance, and drive. Individuals with determination are willing to assert themselves, they are proactive, and they have the capacity to persevere in the face of obstacles. Being determined includes showing dominance of times and in cettai9n situations where followers need to be directed. This was ture in the case of Mr. Rashid Khan, who made the Banglalink one of the leading cellular service providers of the Bangladesh by using his determination.
By using his Personality traits, he was able to win the confidence of the employee and steer ‘Banglalink’ link out of the initial difficulties. During his two year tenure, he made the company grow by more than 3 times, achieved the No. 2 position in the market, and recently crossed the 10 million customers’ milestone.
Leadership Skills:
Rashid Khan’s in depth knowledge of the cellular industry and proven operational leadership made him the ideal choice to lead Mobilink. By using his leadership skills that is knowledge, problem solving skills and Social judgment skills he was so successful at Banglalink. Following is a brief description of his skills;
Problem solving skills
Problem solving skill is one of the most important skills developed by Mr. Rashid Khan during course of his career. This skill has contributed a lot in his success in different positions.
Knowledge
Mr. Rashid Khan has a very good knowledge of cellular industry. This is primarily because of the various positions he hold in the “Mobilink “and “Banglalink”. As he is an engineer, so he has a good technical knowledge about the engineering matters. Moreover, when he was CCO (Chief Commercial Officer), it contributed in improving his marketing skill as well.
Social Judgment Skills
As far his social judgment skills are concerned he was very good at social judgment skills. That was why he was able to work well in a different culture of Bangladesh. He is very good at figuring out what are the most important values of the people and which things they value the most and how people from different cultures could be motivated.
Performance/Outcome
The out come of the skills of the Mr. Rashid Khan quite evident from the progress made by banglalink . When he joined banglalink it had 1.03 million connections, in the start of the 2006. The number of banglalink users increased by more than 253 per cent and stood at 3.64 million at the end of 2006, thus making it the fastest growing operator in the world of that year.
Leadership Style:
We have used “managerial grid” to figure out the “Leadership Style” of Mr. Rashid Khan.His leadership falls in the category of “Authority compliance leadership”.
Authority compliance Leadership
The Authority compliance style (9,1) means controlling and dominating. With a high concern for production, and a low concern for people, managers using this style find employee needs unimportant; they provide their employees with money and expect performance in return. Managers using this style also pressure their employees through rules and punishments to achieve the company goals. Mr. Rashid Khan mostly focused on cost-cutting and productivity with little concern for the people.
Transactional or Transformational Leadership:
Transactional leadership is a term used to classify a group of leadership theories that inquire the interactions between leaders and followers. A transactional leader focuses more on a series of "transactions". This person is interested in looking out for oneself, having exchange benefits with their subordinates and clarifies a sense of duty with rewards and punishments to reach goals. Although Mr, Rashid Khan is considered vey effective leader, yet he used transactional leadership style rather than Transformational one.
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