Ursula Burns's Management Style: Ursula Burns

Conscientiousness. Ursula Burns exhibits a high degree of conscientiousness. She has proven herself to be reliable and dependable, a fiercely loyal Xerox employee. She has always been focused on goals and responsibilities, achieving them with hard work and determination.

Extraversion. Someone with more of this characteristic is outgoing and effervescent. By her own admission, Ursula Burns is more on the introverted end of this spectrum. She is not comfortable with all the attention just for being “the first” in her role as CEO. (Bell, 2011) She is not one who is effervescent in her presentation, but one who is thoughtful and even-keeled, with a sense of humor and clear sense of purpose.

Agreeableness. At the higher end of this continuum, someone who is agreeable is warm, kind, and compassionate. Ursula exhibits these traits. She expresses caring for and interest in others. She talks frequently of being kind, while still always being real and authentic. After

Another way to look at Ursula Burns’ management style is through the lenses of the University of Michigan and Ohio State studies. The University of Michigan studies on leadership determined that there are three critical behaviors to being an effective leader – task- or production-oriented, relationship- or people-oriented, and participative. (Michigan Studies, n.d.)

Participative leaders manage people as groups as well as individually, using team meetings that are facilitated rather than dictatorial or directive in nature, one-on-one discussions, and cohesion to support the manager’s responsibility for achieving results. (Michigan Studies, n.d.) This was addressed as part of the discussion on the paternalistic approach on page fourteen. Her staff comes together in participative team meetings while also having one-on-one time with her. The same is true of employees who have the opportunity to address their concerns in employee