Leadership

The major characters in the case are Gerry Gladstone, Allied Machinery Company’s board and employees. Gerry was offered the leadership role at the company as its president and was banking on his previous success as general manager at Machinery Division to effectively enable Allied Machinery to increase its performance in terms of sales.  Things did not work out well as the firm was unable to considerably increase its sales in the industry. Gerry only found out too late that he was working in a different environment in which the democratic leadership style he adopted at Machinery Division could not apply for the new position. The managers in the new firm lacked initiative and capabilities like his previous subordinates. 

Problems

Gerry was unable to turn around the poor performance of Allied Machinery Company in terms of sales increment as desired by the board. The environment at the company did not allow for adoption of democratic leadership since the managers did not have initiative or capabilities so that had to be directed in their roles and their leader had to closely supervise them.   Having a participative style of leadership where the work would be delegated to managers proved to be hard for Gerry.  The basic problem is that the organization lacked the effective support systems including basic organizational procedures such as order processing, inventory control and information system which made it impossible for achieve results that he had obtained in past managerial posts. There hard to be follow-up and guidance from the leader for the employees to perform their assigned duties. Unavailability of dependable control systems and standard procedures was part of the problems. Gerry did not find out such shortcomings until it was too late.

Solutions

For the organization to improve its performance in term of sales, there is a need to establish an environment that encourages personal initiative and capabilities so that all the executives and employees can be part of decision making process. Implementation of organizational support systems including standard procedures and effective control systems will ensure that employees do not have to be supervised to perform their tasks in the right way. Systems aimed at inventory control will enable each manager to follow through sales performance without follow –up from the leader. Information systems will ensure that a communication process is established through which information can be shares regarding emerging issues, ideas are shared and solution found within teamwork from every level of management.

Root problem

The origin of problems in the case is the conclusion that democratic or participative leadership style is the best in Allied Machinery Company environment.  Gerry assumed that he had all the necessary experience and knowledge in running a company, given that he had risen through ranks in previous positions to exemplary performance.  The democratic leadership does not apply in all circumstances.  In some instances, where employees are not capable or willing to participate, lack of direction from the leaders will not yield the desired results.

Solution to root of the problem

The leadership role for the organization has to encourage participation of employees in decision making while at the same time offering direction in operations. Participation involves making decisions while direction is related to execution of decisions that have been made (Muczyk & Reimann, 1987). The environment has to allow employees to be initiative and develop capabilities to come up with ideas. The democratic leadership style will only succeed if followers can and are willing to actively take part in the process of decision making (Muczyk & Reimann, 1987).  The leader will have to learn the environment and use his discretion in guiding and directing the organization towards the desired results.

Reference

Muczyk, J. P., & Reimann, B. C. (1987). The case for directive leadership. The Academy of Management Executive, 1(4), 301-311.