BUSINESS LEADERSHIP

Characteristics of Business Leadership- Alan Mulally

Characteristics of Business Leadership- Alan Mulally

Introduction

In the case it is stated, “Alan Mulally's leadership has resulted in Ford making some strategic moves” (Hellriegel et al., 2001). His skills and style helped Ford to move ahead in the industry during an economic recession. According to Lewis Booth, chief financial officer at Ford, “Alan's style is pretty relentless.” He says, “If this is the reality, what are we going to do about it? (Hellriegel et al., 2011)” Mulally's leadership style is relationship behavior, Hellriegel defines this style as “includes using two-way communication, listing, encouraging, involving followers in decision making and giving emotional support. Two-way communication is important in any organization and Mulally demonstrated this by communicating to all the employees and not just upper level executives as to what, when and how the company was going to move forward. On his first day at Ford he questioned senior leader about a product that was no longer available and he listened to why this product was not available. He set goals and behaviors for the employees so that they would know what direction the company was going in.

An organization having well-defined visions and mission statements changes nothing. To be able to energize employees to fulfill corporate objectives to achieve those visions and missions should be more than a sign on the wall (Hellriegl and Slocum, 2011). Ford was the only major auto manufacture that did not pursue government bail-out. To choose a direction, an executive must have developed a mental image of the possible and desirable future state of the organization. This image, which is perceived as a vision, may be as vague as a dream or as precise as a goal or mission statement. The vision of Ford is simple yet powerful, 'to become the world's leading consumer company for automotive products and services' (Hellriegel and Slocum, 2011).

Discussion

The style of leadership that Alan Mulally portrays could be defined in terms of two models, both Situational Leadership and Behavioral Leadership. At the beginnings of Mr. Mulally's tenure with the Ford Motor Company, the Situational Leadership Model was evident to me. The model's progression basically is dependent on the readiness of a team. When a new CEO begins his/her tenure, time is taken to assess the ways and means of how the business produces their product lines. The case study shares with the reader that Mr. Mulally “studied up on Ford like a student cramming for an exam, interviewing dozens of employees, analysts, and consultants.” (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2009, p. 544) The fact that Mr. Mulally went to such measures to evaluate the Ford Motor Company before accepting the position gives the reader some knowledge that Mr. Mulally had assessed the “readiness” of the Ford Motor Company, and his research helped to form a formal approach to the Ford Motor Company's issues. Initially his approach uses a telling style where Mr. Mulally solely “devised a plan that identified specific goals for the company, created ...