The Effective Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Effective Leadership - Essay Example In a case presented about Harley Davidson Motorcycles by Grant et al. (1999), it was highlighted that the organization suffered as a result of poorly defined work roles, and poor leadership. Through implementing fundamental changes in management techniques, it was determined that the firm should adopt a more democratic leadership style. By definition, a democratic leadership role is that which employs a style in which employees are encouraged to be active decision makers. As a result, the organization implemented a policy of employing â€Å"Natural work-groups† between 8-15 people whose purpose was providing feedback to superiors. As a result, the democratically managed organization was able to determine that employee satisfaction was the catalyst for change and as such implemented a no-firing policy and implemented a policy of unlimited sick days. As a result, the company saw sales growth between the years 1994 and 1997 and a near doubling of production. As argued by Mills & Simmons (1999) organizations may employ a degree of ‘institutional inertia’ which in the end makes them unreceptive to change. The consequence of this kind of policy is ‘rigidity’, insofar as it may become difficult for some organizations to change their workflow to better accommodate changes in technology. As such, in some circumstances, it may be beneficial for a company to employ a strategy of implementing the more autocratic style of leadership. According to Essortment.com (2010), it is the case that an autocratic style of leadership is a strategy in which management tries to maintain as much power over decision-making aspects of an organization as possible.