LEADERSHIP STYLE AND THE EFFECTS OF LEADERSHIP STYLE ON ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE
The leadership style at Mervyn's Department Stores is described in the first section of this research. The effects of this leadership style on organizational performance are considered in the second section.
As North American economies and societies become more complex, and as both social and economic environments become more internationalized, so too, the demands placed on organizational leadership are magnified. Over the past three decades, scores of books, and hundreds of articles have been written on leadership styles, styles of management, motivation, and related topics. The general thrust of most of this writing has been that some form of participative management, or non authoritarian leadership style, as opposed to a strict authoritarian style, will result in improved organizational performance. Many North American organizations, however, appear continue to successfully rely authoritarian leadership practices.
A generally accepted agreement on the definition leadership has eluded theorists and practitioners alike for scores of years. As might be expected of any concept which has appeared to defy definition, there exists fairly widespread disagreement among the experts as to just what it involves. Peter Drucker (1954, p. 107) said that leadership "is of the utmost importance. Indeed there is no substitute for it. But leadership cannot be created or promoted. It cannot be taught or learned." Thus, Drucker supported the premise that leadership is an art, based upon the old saw that leadership is an art, not a science, and that a science can be learned but an art cannot, or the even older homily that says that leaders are born, not made.
Bradford Boyd (1989, p. 324) said that leadership is, simply, "getting people to work to achieve the goals of the enterprise. It's giving people something to work for." Boyd, thus, appeared ...