Verified Document

CEO As Leader Of Ford Motor Company Essay

CEO as Leader of Ford Motor Company The leadership of any large, diverse multinational corporation needs to concentrate on a unifying vision coupled with transformational leadership skills to keep the company moving forward over the long-term (Wang, Oh, Courtright, Colbert, 2011). At the Ford Motor Company, the challenge is to not only manage these core aspects of effective leadership, the CEO must also initiate and continually improve innovation over time as the auto industry is going through significant transformation (Luca, McNamara, 2010). The intent of this analysis is to evaluate how effective leaders are in the auto industry in synchronizing these many tasks, in conjunction with serving as a catalyst of effective innovation and transformational growth over time.

Analysis of the CEO Role at Ford

Alan Mulally is currently CEO of Ford Motor Company, and his background is heavily based on aerospace, defense and commercial airline industries. In these industries, cost and time-based project management skills are essential to keeping existing customers and gaining new ones. This is especially true with the U.S. And foreign governments who often purchase commercial and military jets from Boeing to highly specific deadlines and very precise quality standards. This same type of leadership style is critically important for the managing of complex systems, processes and new product introduction schedules at Ford. At first many critics doubted if Alan Mulally would be successful in his position as CEO of an auto manufacturer. He took the job in the midst of a major economic...

Government, saying Ford would battle their way out of the financial turmoil gripping the industry (Saporito, 2010). The characteristics and traits that the Ford CEO is illustrate of the types of leadership necessary for transforming organizations and keeping them continually moving forward to their goals and objectives (Wang, Oh, Courtright, Colbert, 2011).
Analyzing why Alan Mulally is succeeding shifts the focus of any analysis to the essential aspects of transformational leadership. The core aspects of transformational leadership include a strong level of emotional intelligence (EI) or the ability to successfully interpret conditions accurately and respond to them to ensure a high level of motivation by (Birasnav, Rangnekar, Dalpati, 2011). Transformational leaders have the ability to interpret and respond to complex problems while ensuring their teams stay involved and committed. The progression of a manager to leader is often predicated on how effectively they make the transition from transactional, tactical management to longer-term transformational leadership (Gilley, Dixon, Gilley, 2008). Transactional leaders can often rely on short-term rewards to gain cooperation and support, yet transformational leaders must gain the trust of their subordinates for goals to be internalized and believed in. Alan Mulally clearly is a transformational leader as the results delivered to this point show that Ford's employees have been able to rise above their personal interests and pursue…

Sources used in this document:
Reference

M. Birasnav, S. Rangnekar, & A. Dalpati. (2011). Transformational leadership and human capital benefits: the role of knowledge management. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 32(2), 106-126

Blair, Gerard M. (1993). Becoming a great manager. Management Development Review, 6(4), 3.

Ann Gilley, Pamela Dixon, Jerry W. Gilley. (2008). Characteristics of leadership effectiveness: Implementing change and driving innovation in organizations. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 19(2), 153.

House, R.J., & Shamir, B. (1993). Toward the Integration of Transformational, Charismatic, and Visionary Theories. In M.M. Chemers and R. Ayman (Eds.), Leadership Theory and Research: Perspectives and Directions, p. 81 -- 107. San Diego: Academic Press.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Ford Motor Company Ford Case
Words: 3702 Length: 13 Document Type: Term Paper

In October they are forced to half dividend. On the 17th October Ford posts its first consecutive quarterly loss in a decade. (BBC News Ford chief Jacques Nasser ousted). Though overwhelmed by the situation Bill Ford does his best to improve their financial situation and succeeds for a short while. But Ford's true "revitalization" would only be brought about by the CEO who came after Bill Ford, Alan Mulally (who

Ford Motor Company Discuss the
Words: 1721 Length: 5 Document Type: Research Paper

With Mullaly saying, "As we come through the recession of 2008 -- 2009, were going to be a turbo machine when the economy turns around." This was occurring when the company was posting yearly losses of $14.7 billion in 2008. ("Integrating Cases,' n.d.) What all of this shows, is that the combination of the different leadership styles; would allow Mullaly to provide everyone with an honest assessment about: the

Ford Motor Company Alan Mulally Has Transformed
Words: 2349 Length: 8 Document Type: Essay

Ford Motor Company Alan Mulally has transformed Ford Motor Company from a firm that only a few short years ago was floundering in an industry-wide morass of mismanagement, inefficiencies and no sense of direction. Since assuming the helm at Ford he has devised a plan that identifies specific, communicated goals for both management and labor that ensures that the transformation from the brink of insolvency to profitability not only takes place,

Ford Motor Company, Sample Marketing
Words: 3441 Length: 9 Document Type: Term Paper

(Ford Motor Company: eRoom enables Ford to drive into new technology) II. Marketing Strategies: Target Market: Target Market 1 This market consists of institutional sales with large manufacturers or independent manufacturing divisions of corporations having a huge network of broker, dealer or distributor network. For these categories the ideal vehicle suited will be the sports wagon and minivans. Only last January, the managers publicized the Ford Fairline concept at the Detroit Auto

Case Study of Ford Motor Company
Words: 2344 Length: 8 Document Type: Case Study

Ford Motor Company Case Study of Ford Motor Company History, Development and Growth Ford Motor Company has been a vital American automaker since its incorporation in 1902. The car maker was started at that time by Henry Ford and has continued with some member of the family on the board of directors since that time. The company began selling individually manufactured vehicles, but moved to an innovation devised by the founder soon after.

Organizational Analysis Ford Motor Company
Words: 1847 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

Recommendations The key competitive advantages that Ford Motor Company of Canada must concentrate on include the following. First, the continue growth of supplier relationship management and tight integration at the quality level of sourcing and procurement (Baker, Artinian, 1985) is critical. This will alleviate any increases in the 78% of their cost structures that are dedicated to sourcing and procuring products, well above industry norms. Second, the use of R&D funds

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now