BP is a multinationalenergy business that has 92,000 employees and operates in 100 countries. When a new chief executive was recruited internally at BP, he promised to improve the companies disappointing performance by quickly changing its culture to become more innovative and more responsive to its customers. How easy do you think it is for a new chief executive to change the culture of an organisation quickly?PLANINTRO:Culture def.The beliefs and behaviours that determine how acompany'semployees and management interact and handle outsidebusinesstransactions.It depends on the state of the company. Eg, Dave Lewis: Tesco was in Turmoil- he went in and cut jobs and made significant changes but Tesco are still under scrutiny for decisions.Depends on the type of leadership.Definition of leadership:the action of leading a group of people or an organization, or the ability to do this. Different types of leadership such as Authoritarian,Paternalistic, Democratic and Laissez-faire. This depends as different leaders have different ways of doing things, some are ruthless and do whatever it takes to get it right and others take a more parental role and focus on the wellbeing of the employees.Leadership style determines how easy it would be for a new chief executive to change the culture of an organisation quickly.Point 1:IT would be a lot easier for an authoritarianleader to change the culture of an organisation quickly due to their ruthlessness. They work hard to be successful and they do not give up when times are tough. People respect them and they get things done.Example of an authoritarian leader who changed the culture of a business- Bill Gates.Bill Gates was able to successfully move Microsoft in the direction he saw the industry going. When Windows 8 came out, there was uproar and controversy because of its layout. This could have possible been a huge disaster for Bill Gates, however, he combated this problem by introducing the new software that is available now. He fixed the problem and customers were satisfied. His authoritarian leadership styles/practices saved him a lot of money.Point 2:Also examples of people who have taken their leadership roles too far which has caused them to fail and this is an example of how it is not as easy for some people to change the culture of an organisation quickly. Example: Steve Ballmer- CEO Microsoft:Culture is another big problem at the company. Stack ranking (whereby the top performers get bonuses and the bottom lose their jobs) reduces cooperation and incentives to work with other top performers (because that talent might beat you to the top of the rankings) and promotes conservative decision-making to avoid falling to the bottom. Coupled with a big-company mentality that seeks to protect monopoly positions at the expense of taking sizeable risks to create something new, Ballmer oversaw a classic anti-innovation culture.Even though Microsoft continues to make billions of dollars, that does not mean the CEO is doing an excellent job. Just like big banks make money when interest rates are near zero, so do big companies when they have near-monopoly positions in key markets. But those positions existed before Ballmer started and, in fact, were even more robust under Bill Gates.Point 3:Some leaders have taken on a more parental/democratic approach to leadership andbecause of this they have been successful as their employees have a higher motivation which leads to higher productivity. Example: Mark Zuckerburg (CEO Facebook)Zuckerberg speaks openly about his conversations with Steve Jobs where he sought answers on how to build an effective team and how to keep an organization focused. Like manygreat leaders, Zuckerberg has never underestimated the importance of continued growth.Tim Bajarin, President of Creative Strategies,Inc., said the number one thing weve learned from Zuckerberg is to take the vision you have, put all your energy into it, and get a lot of smart people around you to execute on it.This is evident in showing that by working alongside your employees and treating them as equal you can be just as successful. This is an example of a parental leadership style which could also prove to be easy if someone who took this approach were to change the culture of an organisation quickly.Point 4: There is leaders that have taken leadership a step too far and it has become more aboutthem than their company. An example of this is Ron Johnson. His goal was toadopt the principles of Apple stores sleek, hip layouts, deep brand connection to customers and higher prices to what was a mid-tier, relatively unexciting department store chain whose products were hardly differentiated. He did not prove to very successful within the business JC Penney. He barely tried to connect with rank-and-file employees, who found his regular video broadcasts more self-promotional than motivational. It is clear that he does not have the necessary leadership qualities required for running a business. This is a perfect example of a leader who will not find it as easy to change the culture of a business quickly.Conclusion:Dependson the style of leadership and the attitude of the leader. Different leaders have different strategies and that will determine howeasy it will be. It is these factors that have to be taken into consideration when answering whether it would be easy for a new chief executive to change the culture of a business quickly.