Henry Ford – the Leadership Qualities of One of History’s Greatest Innovators.
Henry Ford – The Leadership qualities of one of history’s greatest innovators.
Executive summary
This paper set out to find out if Henry Ford was a capable leader or just a great innovator who took advantage of a good opportunity?
We looked at the leadership traits and style of Henry Ford and found that he was a great leader, however if he had to work in today’s business world he would have to adapt to the way modern leaders deal with managing change. The examples we found of Ford’s business practices suggested he had a very direct and dictatorial management style and after years of success he failed to adapt change to his business when it needed it most. As a result, rival companies seized on changing market trends, while Ford stayed true to his vision and strategy.
Henry Ford’s vision and perseverance was the reason Ford Motor Company was successful but that success would be hard to emulate in the current poor economic conditions and ever-changing market trends we are faced with today.
There are, however, very few people like Henry Ford. We may assume that he won’t be as effective a leader today as he was some 90 years ago but you just know he would be successful. Ford was a visionary, and to give you an example of this around 100 years ago he gave Thomas Edison $1.5 million to build an electric battery that could run a car (Gunderson, 2009), which proved he had a good idea how the motor industry was going to progress. That kind of idea relevant to today’s market could see Ford progress in today’s world.
Contents
1) Introduction
2) The person under study
3) Leadership
4) Effective leadership
5) Conclusion
6) Appendices
7) References
1) Introduction
This paper will identify the leadership capabilities of Henry Ford, looking at how those capabilities are compared to theories on leadership including the author’s definition. We will also look at what it takes to be an effective leader, if
Executive summary
This paper set out to find out if Henry Ford was a capable leader or just a great innovator who took advantage of a good opportunity?
We looked at the leadership traits and style of Henry Ford and found that he was a great leader, however if he had to work in today’s business world he would have to adapt to the way modern leaders deal with managing change. The examples we found of Ford’s business practices suggested he had a very direct and dictatorial management style and after years of success he failed to adapt change to his business when it needed it most. As a result, rival companies seized on changing market trends, while Ford stayed true to his vision and strategy.
Henry Ford’s vision and perseverance was the reason Ford Motor Company was successful but that success would be hard to emulate in the current poor economic conditions and ever-changing market trends we are faced with today.
There are, however, very few people like Henry Ford. We may assume that he won’t be as effective a leader today as he was some 90 years ago but you just know he would be successful. Ford was a visionary, and to give you an example of this around 100 years ago he gave Thomas Edison $1.5 million to build an electric battery that could run a car (Gunderson, 2009), which proved he had a good idea how the motor industry was going to progress. That kind of idea relevant to today’s market could see Ford progress in today’s world.
Contents
1) Introduction
2) The person under study
3) Leadership
4) Effective leadership
5) Conclusion
6) Appendices
7) References
1) Introduction
This paper will identify the leadership capabilities of Henry Ford, looking at how those capabilities are compared to theories on leadership including the author’s definition. We will also look at what it takes to be an effective leader, if
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