Case 5: Elon Musk's Leadership

As we began to emerge from the pandemic, and more recently since acquiring Twitter, Elon Musk signals a very

particular style of leadership.

Kara Alaimo1 of CNN Business (https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/03/perspectives/elon-musk-tesla-office

work/index.html) reported on an email sent out to Tesla employees about return to work:

"Anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum (and I mean *minimum*) of

40 hours per week or depart Tesla ," he wrote. He also said that he would personally review every

employee request for an exemption but that, generally, "If you don't show up, we will assume you have

resigned."

In announcing this draconian policy that disregards the needs, desires and realities of many

American workers, Musk probably thinks he's going to extract more and better work out of his

staff. He's sadly mistaken. The policy is likely to have the exact opposite effect, driving talent and

innovation out of his electric vehicle company.

To state the obvious, Tesla's policy ignores the 60% of Americans with jobs that can be done

remotely who say they want to work from home all or most of the time even after Covid,

according to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey. Women and members of marginalized groups

are especially likely to want to work from home all or part of the time because of either a lack of

child care, other demands at home, or because they often feel excluded in their office

environments. According to a recent survey of 10,800 knowledge workers around the globe by

Future Forum, a consortium focused on flexible work that is supported by Slack , 77% of White

workers, 81% of Black workers, 82% of Asian/Asian American workers and 79% of

Hispanic/Latinx workers want hybrid or remote working arrangements. And 58% of working

mothers want to work from home all or most of the time, compared to 48% of working dads.

Immediately after taking over Twitter Elon Musk made some important changes. Kate Konger of the New York

Times described some of these changes2:

Elon Musk gave Twitter employees a deadline of 5 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday to decide if they wanted

to work for him, and he asked those who did not share his vision to leave their jobs, in his latest shock

treatment of the social media company.

Mr. Musk made the announcement in an early-morning email to employees on Wednesday; The New York

Times obtained the message, which had the subject line "A Fork in the Road." In the note, Mr. Musk, 51,

reiterated that Twitter faced a difficult road ahead and offered employees three months of severance if

they did not want to continue working there "to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0."

The billionaire has been unrelenting in rapidly transforming Twitter since completing his $44 billion

acquisition of the company nearly three weeks ago. Mr. Musk swiftly slashed half of Twitter's 7,500 person

work force, dismissed thousands of contractors, fired employees who had criticized him and trimmed

infrastructure costs. He has also proclaimed that Twitter needs to make more money or it faces

1 Alaimo, K. (June 3, 2022). Opinion: Elon Musk's work policy is bad for employees, but it's even worse for Tesla. CNN Business.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/03/perspectives/elon-musk-tesla-office-work/index.html

2 Konger, K. (Nov. 16, 2022). Elon Musk Gives Twitter Employees a Deadline to Stay or Leave. The New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/16/technology/elon-musk-twitter-employee

deadline.html?login=email&auth=login-email&login=email&auth=login-email&login=email&auth=login-emailbankruptcy. And he has pushed on subscription products and alternately wooing and insulting Twitter's

advertisers. ...

In his note to Twitter employees on Wednesday, Mr. Musk said they would need to work hard very

hard. "In an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hard core," he wrote. "This will

mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade."

....

He included a link to an online form asking employees to confirm their interest in working at Twitter.

Many Twitter employees have openly balked at Mr. Musk's leadership, and the company's work force

could be further reduced if many workers accept the offer to leave. On Tuesday, Mr. Musk fired nearly two

dozen workers who had been critical of his leadership in posts on Twitter or on the company's internal

messaging service, Slack.

Nardine Saad's3 article described how Musk fired employees by locking them out of their work accounts, with no

prior waring or details. Those that remained received an email stating so. Her article includes reactions of Twitter

employees:

"Looks like I'm unemployed y'all. Just got remotely logged out of my work laptop and removed from Slack.

#OneTeam forever. Loved you all so much. So sad it had to end this way" @SBkcrn

"Twitter was the first corporate company I worked for where I didn't feel alone. Thats because of the

amazing people I worked with! You wouldn't fully understand the culture unless you were there.

#OneTeam" @ShawnaCodes

"I got the email... I still have a job but I stayed up last night watching hard-working, talented, caring

people get logged out one by one and I don't know what to say. Tweeps, you are remarkable. #OneTeam

#TwitterLayoffs" @elibelly

"well, my entire team just got locked out. officially an ex-Tweep. it's been a wild ride #OneTeam"

@neeks_cap

"My name is Gonzalo Lira and I am one of the faces of these Twitter layoffs. It's not a joke guys im a

person. I coach little league. I go on walks with my wife. I am a drone hobbies. I helped design that little

flag for Ukraine. For what? Baffling. #OneTeam #lovewhereyouworked" @strangertemple

"Well this isn't looking promising. Can't log into emails. Mac wont turn on. But so grateful this is

happening at 3am. Really appreciate the thoughtfulness on the timing front guys. Meanwhile to everyone

else at Twitter, you're the best #OneTeam" @ChrisYounie

"It's official I'm out. Absolutely enjoyed my time and being able to be me everyday at work. My team has

been fantastic and grateful I had the pleasure of working with them #LoveWhereYouWorked #OneTeam"

@TechD0C

"Rooting for all Tweeps, especially my brilliant Curation team, who worked relentlessly to ensure users had

access to relevant, accurate info daily. The fight for healthy media platforms continues, but working with

you has been the greatest honor #OneTeam" @gwenfaviles

1. Consider the changes Musk announced requiring employees to return to work in person at Tesla.

How would you explain a sudden change in some employees' motivation and job performance

after the implementation of this policy? Consider that there are no changes to their work or to

their ability to perform it. Structure your answer using expectancy theory terminology (6 points).