Base on "Background of Reed Hastings

Reed Hastings is the co-founder and CEO of Netflix. He was borned on 8 October of 1960, in Boston, Massachusetts. Being recognized as one of the Time magazine's 100 most influential people multiple times for his informative role in the television industry, Hastings has also received the International Emmy Directorate Award for his contributions. With his prophetic strategic vision and innovative approach , Hastings has been playing a core role in shaping the success and the growth of Netflix, as a leading force in the digital entertainment industry. Under his leadership, Netflix revolutionized the entertainment industry, transitioning from a DVD rental service to a global streaming platform.(Levy S,2023)



Points to Learn


Embrace a Culture of Innovation
Employees are encouraged to do experiments and think outside the box. This approach has allowed Netflix to continuously evolve and disrupt the film market. Stepping out of the comfort zone leads no matter Hastings and us to be surrounded by opportunities and view more opinions in different perspectives to learn knowledge and accept uncertainty
 
Value Talent and High Performance
By creating an environment where high performers can thrive and make significant contributions, Netflix has provided opportunities for employees to grow and develop their skills. Even in daily life, we can learn from each other, get everyone to be in the right place with their strengths so that things can be done effectively and efficiently.
 
Long-Term Vision
Hastings dared to take risks making bold bets. Invested heavily in original content and international expansion, involving short-term risks, helped Netflix become a global leader in streaming entertainment. To achieve organizational goals, while making decisions whatever they face, we should be brave to face any failure and to restart.



Improvements

In September 2011, Netflix announced the separation of its streaming and DVD rental services into Netflix and Qwikster. The decision faced backlash due to poor communication and execution, causing confusion among subscribers. Reed Hastings acknowledged the misstep, apologized, and reversed the plan, continuing to provide both services under the Netflix brand.


     This management failure highlights the importance of effective communication, customer-centric decision-making, and anticipating the potential impact of strategic changes.



Strategic Planning

Hastings has a clear vision of the organization’s current mission status and goals. By analyzing the external factors, Hastings chooses to grab opportunities while taking risks by observing the trends at the same time . Hastings dared to make bold bets, investing heavily in original content and international expansion. These decisions involved short-term risks, but they eventually promoted Netflix to become a global leader in streaming careers. By embracing the uncertainty and being willing to take risks, Hastings demonstrated the importance of seizing opportunities so as to stay ahead of the competition. To compete with other companies, Netflix has allocated well and maximize the use of resources and bypass the weaknesses.



Hastings implemented the theory of flexibility and adaptation, fostering a culture of bravery and empowering individuals to face failures optimistically. This strategic approach enables continuous improvement and provides a competitive edge. By ingeniously evaluating data and analytics, Hastings can quickly  observe the market shift and deliver personalized experiences. Hastings's flexible and adaptable management style conveniently fastens the process of data-driven decision-making which drives Netflix to organizational success in the business landmark and establishes a strategic advantage among all competitors.



 Human Resource Management

There are mainly three factors of human resource management in Netflix leading to success.

The first main point is building a clear corporate vision and hire someone who can achieve it. A clear corporate vision can attract talents who have a similar sight field with the company and make employees understand their characters and contributions to the company. Netflix’s vision statement is providing programs by embracing competition, leading in growth, innovation and for several decades (Perryman and Strategy, 2014). It gives direction to employees to know their characters.

For the part of hiring, selection tools of recruitment are significant. For instance, background investigation through application form access to filter the applicants who are not eligible for the job which is convenient and saves time. To enter Netflix, it requires a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science, IT, or a degree of relevant computer engineering field. Another tool is an interview. It provides a more valuable way to know the candidates rather than just an application form by observing body language such as gestures and confidence level, etc. This process ensures the quality of labor recruited (Weintraub et al., 2021). Interview always requires more reflective responses as Netflix would like to ask to list the core values of the company.

Secondly, considerable compensation and benefits to employees give incentives for employees to stay. For example, offering high bonuses and income could motivate employees to work. There is an unique benefit in Netflix which is a vacation offer. Netflix allows employees to take a vacation whenever they want because it conveys a message that the manager trusts his employees to do what is right (Hastings and Meyer, 2020). Moreover, Netflix discloses the organizational information internally. It aims to build trust between managers and employees, encouraging them to take ownership of their work in the meanwhile.

Lastly, respect and value opinions from employees. Regular meetings drive an effective way of communicating within the company. During meetings, mutually agreed-upon goals which follow management by objectives(MBO) were set. Hastings pays attention to the ideas, suggestions of employees while encouraging feedback and collaborations  so subordinates are able to exert innovation. He mentioned that receiving messages and feedback with an open mind and showing appreciation by listening carefully is the key that leads to success (Hastings and Meyer, 2020).




Managing Change

With an open system, Netflix has been building a management style. The most significant change activity of Netflix has shifted to online streaming services and replaced DVD rentals.
 
Netflix launched as a DVD rental service in 1998–1999, providing its users unlimited DVD rentals in exchange for a monthly subscription fee.
 
Due to both external and internal forces about the consumer needs and wants, technology and product development, Netflix started to change to a new state by modifying the structure and approach to success.
 
Firstly, a new video streaming service for movies and TV shows was launched by Netflix in 2007. Then, Netflix released its iOS service and mobile apps for iPhone customers in 2011. Users of smartphones may download the apps for free from both the Apple Play Store and Google.
 
As additional updates come out, the market grows and other age groups or client targets attract in.This leads the business keen on developing and competing with other brands in the career.



Managerial Roles


Figurehead
Hastings worked as the head and the face of Netflix. He has represented Netflix attending a number of media interviews,talks and events, such as CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomer, etc.He helps build the company’s reputation and brand image. 
Liaison
Hastings worked as a liaison between Netflix and government policymakers. Hastings kept connecting with the government regulators and suggested some innovative policies to support the streaming industry. For instance, net neutrality, copyright law and content regulation. 
Monitor
Hastings monitors and evaluates the subordinates effectiveness to check with the change of financial index, subscriber growth, content popularity, and market share. By identifying areas of strength and areas that require improvement,data-informed decisions can be made more accurately .



Leadership Style

Hastings has implemented transformational leadership.(Manu A,2022)He has changed from being an autocratic leader(Arora E,2020) in Software Hastings to a participative leader in Netflix (Arora E,2020).
 
Being stubborn , self-centered, Hasting used to refuse ideas suggested by employees and even give them criticized feedback. He autonomously dictated work methods, made unilateral decisions and limited employee participation. Therefore, employees got few opportunities to engage in discussion and this caused subordinates to be unable and unwilling to take responsibility for completing tasks. Moreover, they are afraid of the consequences of saying negative comments. Leader-member relationship is therefore poor because of lack of communication. Productivity was therefore low due to the poor working environment.
However, Hastings changed to adopting an open environment in Netflix because the company aims to foster creativity and innovation. He gathered,synthesized and interpreted a large amount of ideas and advice from employees actively and friendly at any time anywhere while trying to communicate with them under no stress at the same time.
 
He also gave more freedom to subordinates and encouraged them to post anonymous difficult questions then answering them patiently. He considered and used their feedback judiciously.
When the company faced difficulties or seemed to be waived, he would remain steady and optimistic to find out positive solutions with a smiling face. His enthusiastic, self-confident personality influences subordinates to trust him, pass through the difficulties and move forward with him confidently.

It shows his strong desire to create an optimistic, motivated atmosphere and lead others with a collaborative style. Also, good followers are able to learn self-managing which helps increase the productivity and efficiency of business in the long run. Employees gain a sense of belonging gradually under this harmonious working environment. This leadership style is a key lead to the success of Netflix.
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