Shifting Leadership Gears at Harley Davidson Motor Company

Shifting Leadership Gears at Harley Davidson Motor Company

Introduction

Since the beginning of corporate structuring, leaders in organizations have been instrumental in educating and influencing the lives, and have instilled the belief that there is only one leader and the rest follow. These influential individuals with power, such as our family, teachers in schools, the principals, and people in the Army have had a significant amount of control over our lives. These measures of checks and control have transcended into our professional lives as we enter the practical world. We enter our professional careers with the notion of working hard and striving, complying with procedures and socializing with the right people, rewards would ensue. This has been believed to be the path that would lead us to success and eventually become leaders. However, this was the conventional method for success in yester years. In today's modern organizations, leadership has taken an entirely new meaning (Alexander et al, 2010).

Leadership at Harley Davidson

The beauty of the management and leadership style at Harley Davidson is that it takes into consideration the previous (command and control leadership) style when implementing financial regulations. The reason behind the blend in leadership format is that every method of leadership has its merits that yield success. Even today, when there are situations where all else seems to fail, Harley Davidson employs the previous style to gain a measure of control. The management at Harley Davidson believes that under immense pressure when one faulty step can lead to grave consequences, the command and control style serves best. Given the top-to-bottom nature of this form of leadership, organizations can find a way out of crisis in a rapid manner. Fittingly, when Harley Davidson was faced with a crisis during the early 1980s, the company resorted to this form of leadership and gained significantly due to the decisive nature of this leadership style (Ganzell, 2000).

So what is it that was the reason behind the organization's choice to opt for another form of leadership? Assuming there is a nation that has been encircled by the invading foreign forces. The country's army seeks towards it generals to come up with a decisive strategy. The country's people hope that the decisions made by the generals are based on logic and are rational. Similarly, the crisis at Harley Davidson required the leadership to be prompt and decisive in nature at that point in time. The company was faced with the challenge of sustaining the success it had achieved. The management, now facing endured and pulled the company out of crisis, had to ensure the level of performance and success would continue in the long-run. This also required the employees to continue to perform with the same kind of dedication and zeal that they had shown during the time of crisis. This was not only necessary for the betterment of Harley Davidson but also for the company's workforce (Ganzell, 2000).

Following the crisis, the motivation and the desire to work in ...