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Yahoos development under Marissa
Mayers leadership

Saira Rasool

Copenhagen Business School
BA in Information Management

Introducing Organizational Communication-
2
nd
Quarter

Characters: 2275
Assoc. Mareike Buss
20.12.13




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Introduction to Yahoo

The purpose of this assignment is to figure out which leadership approach Marissa Mayer
has taken as a CEO and how the employee participation at Yahoo is after her arrival. By
looking through the lens of culture, I will also get into how it has influenced the culture in
Yahoo.
I will provide background info in order to highlight the important details in this case:
Marissa Mayer, who was a former executive at Google, left her executive position to
become the new CEO of Yahoo. Yahoo has had history with the CEO position being
unstable as several CEOs tried to improve the performance and reputation of the
company. After the hiring of Marissa Mayer, the performance and innovation at Yahoo is
starting to improve and investors have gained confidence in Yahoo. Mayer has also
managed to improve revenue and made improvements for the employees.
This assignment will include a theoretical framework, an analysis of my research
question and a conclusion of my analysis.

Theoretical framework
In order to determine the leadership approach, I will focus on the traits approach and
connect it to the transformational leadership, as this theory is related to change.
Leadership does not have a clear definition, but it is related to influencing people to
achieve goals or to produce change (Cheney, 2010 p. 183). Grints dimensions are
different ways of, how we tend to think about leadership and there are several ways to
look at leadership. I choose traits approach for this case, as it fits well with the case
material. The traits approach started between the year 1865 and World War I. It is about
what characteristics, abilities, talents or skills a leader has rather than the context
(Cheney, 20120 p. 189). I have chosen this approach because as a leader Mayer has
characteristics and talents that are being noticed along with her effectiveness.
Transformational leadership came out in 1980s and Historian James McGregor Burns
outlined it as transforming. Transformational is about a process of creating significant
change (Cheney, 2010 p. 197). Mayer has managed to create a significant change in
Yahoo, because she has changed the strategy by investing. She has the vision of
transforming Yahoo into a media company. In transformational leadership there are five
actions that have been determined by managers. These five actions are; 1) Challenge the
process: this is experimenting and taking risks. 2) Inspire a shared vision: this is
facilitating common vision by appealing to peoples values, interests
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and dreams. 3) Enable others to act: this is about promoting cooperation, trust building
and share of power. 4) Model the way: this is about ensuring momentum in the group and
making progress toward the vision. 5) Encourage the heart: This action is about
rewarding and celebrating group and individual achievements (Cheney, 2010 p. 199).
Traits approach and transformational leadership are different, but they both give a great
picture of Marissa Mayer as a leader in two opposite ways.
For participation I have included the Quality of Work Life programs study, as it fits well
with what Mayer is doing with the employees at Yahoo. However it was difficult to
determine the employee participation with limited info, but the employees at Yahoo are
being more rewarded than being involved. With the quality of work life concept, the
manager and employees get to cooperate and discuss with each other, which are a ways
of involving the employees, however it is still managerial driven (Cheney, 2010 p. 225
229).
For the culture part, I have used Scheins Organizational culture and leadership. I have
used the three levels of culture to analyze the culture at Yahoo; artifacts, espoused beliefs
and values and basic underlying assumptions. The reason why I choose the three levels is
because, I will explain that there are also three different levels of culture after Mayers
arrival as CEO. Artifacts deals with what you use, hear and feel when you enter a new
group. The espoused beliefs and values are the solutions to a problem within the
organization. The solutions are what the individual thinks is right to do or wrong to do. If
the manager convinces the group it will be a shared perception of success, if the group is
not sharing the solution it is a leader-based solution. The basic underlying assumptions
are when you have had repeated success with implementing certain belief and values and
you repeat them, as you assume they have worked before. Culture defines for us what to
pay attention to and what actions to make in situations (Scheins extract Organizational
culture and leadership, Chapter p. 23 - 33).
Leadership approach

Stylish and intelligent Mayer
With applying Grints classification of leadership I will apply the traits approach,
and determine which traits Marissa Mayer has that makes her a leader.

If she were a man, she would seem like a geek, but she has too much styleand not
California hipster style, either, but red-carpet authenticity. (Ellis 2013, p. 14)
Marissa Mayers style is also a part of her leadership, because they way she dresses
gives her a certain charisma and it gives her a sense of personal identity. In the end,
we are all capable of so much more than we think. (Ellis 2013, p. 19). Mayer wrote
that for Leanln.org. This also indicates that Mayer as a leader, does have self-
confidence and she has desire for responsibility, which again is a trait of hers and
makes her stand out. Another trait that differentiates Mayer from previous CEOs is
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her 13 years executive position at Google, which she left to take on the CEO position
at Yahoo. That itself is considered risky, as Yahoos CEO position was a risky job to
take considering its reputation of being the hardest job in the Valley. (Stone, 2013 p. 8)
According to Ralp Stogdil, who is a leadership researcher and is associated with traits
approach has concluded that a leader is characterized by; desire for responsibility, self-
confidence, personal identity, originality in problem-solving and influence other persons
behavior. (Cheney, 2010 p. 190). Marissa Mayers leadership has a lot to do with how she
is perceived as a person and how she manages to imply emergence in her leadership with
being perceived as stylish, which gives her a personal identity, having self confidence
because of her risk-taking attitude, being perceived as intelligent and she is also original
in her problem-solving, as she also stands out from previous CEOs by investing rather
than saving.
Mayer as a change agent
Transformational leadership: One could argue that Mayer has managed to be a change
agent for Yahoo with her leadership. As mentioned above, she has applied emergence in
her leadership, but she has also been effective. In this theory change is central and
highly needed to make a transformation. James Kouzes and Barry Posner interviewed
managers in private and public sector to describe what they did as best leaders. According
to the managers there are five actions, which are needed in transformational leadership. I
will use the actions and determine them according to Marissa Mayers actions in her
leadership:
1) Challenge the process: Marissa Mayer has taken risks to improve Yahoos
performance by making deals with big named companies and some of them have
not accepted to make a deal with Yahoo considering the companys reputation
before Mayers arrival. Acquisition with Dailymotion did not happen, as
Dailymotion as a company feared to attach their name with Yahoo and Yahoo
also shut down several services. Though companies have been hesitant towards
making a deal with Yahoo, Mayer still did not give up and is in the process of
getting a possible deal with Tumblr. Despite several companies saying no to
Yahoo, Mayer still continues to take risks by investing in small companies.
(Yeung 2013 p. 5)
2) Inspire: Marissa Mayer is also inspiring. After she gave birth to a baby boy, she
came back in office just two weeks after (Ellis 2013 p. 15).
3) Enable: In this action, Mayer has arranged FYI meetings for the employees and
executive team to have a dialogue, which builds cooperation. (Stone 2013 p. 8)
4) Model: The divisions employees also get personal attention from the boss.
Mobile engineers describe regular product reviews where Mayer pushes them to
move faster and think bigger. (Stone 2013 p. 11). This indicates that Mayer as a
leader inspires the employees, as she pushes them to do better work and there is
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progress towards the vision. And the vision of turning Yahoo into a mobile media
company has given Yahoo the small wins by receiving triple job applications.
(Yeung 2013 p. 4).
5) Encourage: Mayer encourages her employees through reward. She offers them
smartphones, fitness bands and free foods. It is Mayers way of showing the
employees, that she values their contribution. (Indvik 2013 p. 6)
With the traits approach, Marissa Mayer already have certain traits that she is being perceived by
and these traits create emergence for her, but they do not explain what is inside Marissa Mayer
as a leader. The transformational theory includes the effectiveness Mayer has as a leader and
which changes she has made. Both concepts explain the different sides of Mayer as a leader.
Participation
The participation of the employees: Mayer has managed to change the organizational life for
the employees. After her arrival at Yahoo, she has been more involved when it comes to
encouraging the employees and she is giving them a chance to participate in management
discussions. Mayer has implemented quality of work life programs in the organization.
Since Mayers arrival as the CEO, the employees have access to initiatives designed to bolster
morale and give them the opportunity to test new products. This is a way of having an interaction
with employees and hearing their opinion out.
Another thing Mayer has changed is to involve the employees in management discussions. There
is a new ritual, which is the FYI, where employees can ask Marissa Mayer and her executive
team questions on a weekly basis on the decisions or vision that Mayer has for the company.
(Stone 2013 p. 8).

Culture The three levels of culture

Artifacts
The artifacts in Yahoo are the physical things. Marissa Mayer has given her employees free
smart phones, free laptops and she has also given free food (Indvik 2013 p.6, Ellis 2013 p. 16).
When the employees and Mayer and her executive team have meetings, they are sitting on chairs
faced towards Mayer and her executive team and that is a ritual within the organization. These
perks are an essential part of the company culture at Yahoo, because it is a way of recruiting
their talent.

Espoused values and beliefs
Yahoo had issues with CEOs that tried to change the company but failed. After Marissa Mayers
arrival, the company has started improving. The values and beliefs that Mayer has, have highly
been depended own Mayers own assumptions about what she believed was right to do and wrong
to do. As soon as Mayer became the CEO, she decided to invest more, as supposed to cut down on
costs, which the previous CEOs did. Mayer believes in investing, execution and growth (Indvik
2013 p.6), as she set concrete goals for Yahoo. That is the right thing to do for Yahoo according
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to her. With the plan of turning Yahoo into a media company, the only thing that Mayer has done
to include the group (the employees), is to give them a chance to question what she imposes. Still
that is not a joint action, but rather a chance to question Mayers beliefs and values. The joint
action does not happen as such, but she has managed to create a mobile group that focuses on the
vision of making Yahoo to a media company. In the case of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer may be
contradicting, as she makes the decisions, but she makes the employees feel like they are a part of
making the decisions. in reality they are assigned to do a task but they share the vision that Mayer
has for the company. Marissa Mayer stated: that she wants to use those great people to build
great products. (Indvik 2013 p. 7). In this case, the values and beliefs are determined by what the
leader wants but with a shared vision of what the leader wants. (Stone 2013 p. 8)

Basic underlying assumption
The culture in Yahoo is depended on Mayers assumptions of what is going to work. After Marissa
Mayer took the CEO position at Yahoo, she tried to solve several problems attached to the
company. When Mayer started as the new CEO, she tried to make several deals with other
companies in order to attach Yahoos name with a company that is doing well. First she managed to
make a deal for Yahoo with Microsoft. After Microsoft, she tried to make a deal with Dailymotion
but they refused Yahoo. Mayer did not stop after Dailymotion refused the deal. Mayer is now trying
to make a deal with Tumblr for a micro blogging platform. (Yeung 2013 p. 5) Other than that, most
of Mayers problem solving has to do with investment. She has invested in innovation, as she is
investing in smaller companies like Stamped, OntheAir, Summly, Astrid, Millewise etc. (Yeung
2013 p. 4). Investments and deals are the solutions for Marissa Mayer and they have worked for the
performance of Yahoo so far. So the more they work, Mayer will assume that they will work for the
company.

Conclusion

After analyzing the leadership of Marissa Mayer, the participation of the employees and the
culture after Marissa Mayer, I can conclude that Mayer as a leader is very charismatic and
effective, as she with her personality and risk taking attitude and actions have managed to take
Yahoo at new levels. Her leadership approach of transforming Yahoo with a new focus, which is
mobile media company, she has created a vision for the future. She is certainly working towards
the goal with participating and discussing with her employees, so everyone at Yahoo is on the
same path. By rewarding the employees by offering them free food and smartphones, she is
making sure that their work is also being appreciated. Her strategy of investment and making
deals with other companies is working and she has created a culture depending on what she
assumes is right for Yahoo. That change has made that people feel included, but she as a leader
has made sure that these changes happen. Marissa Mayer is all about actions and not just about
statements - Now that is an attitude of a leader that knows what she wants!


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References:

Book:
Cheney Christensen and Zorn Ganesh (US). (2011). Leadership Old and New. Organizational
Communication in an Age of Globalization (2
nd
edition) (p. 182- 214). Waveland Press, Inc.

Cheney Christensen and Zorn Ganesh (US). (2011). Participation, Teams, and Democracy at
Work. Organizational Communication in an Age of Globalization (2
nd
edition) (p. 215-251).
Waveland Press, Inc.

Articles:
Mayers Grand Entrance by Josh Ellis Success, August 12
th
, 2013
Turnaround: Marissa Mayers first 300 days as Yahoos CEO by Ken Yeung, The next Web
May 19
th
2013.

Can Marissa Mayer save Yahoo? By Brad Stone, Bloomberg Businessweek, August 1
st
2013.
Marissa Mayer is turning Yahoo around By Lauren Indvik, Mashable, July 19
th
, 2013.

Extract:
Schein 2010 extract, The Three Levels of Culture, Organizational culture and leadership, p.
23-33