Ford as a Good Employer - Essay Example

? HENRY FORD Leader Profile [Type the [Pick the HENRY FORD Henry Ford is the founder of the famous Ford Motor Company. Born on July 30, 1863 in Michigan, Henry Ford is one of the most known entrepreneurs, leaders and CEOs of all times. Henry Ford was the founder and creator of the Ford model of the T car in 1908, founder of the Ford Motor Company and then became a renowned leader through his concept of an assembly line (Ford & Crowther, 1922). He was the father of this assembly line system, which is still used by many businesses today. His concept revolutionized the whole industry also giving his company a major boost in sales (Ford & Crowther, 1922). Henry Ford was smart even as a young boy. He was born into a family of 6 at a farm in Michigan, where since childhood he showed extraordinary capability of taking things apart and then putting them together again. At the age of 16, he moved to Detroit to pursue his passion of building machineries (Ford & Crowther, 1922). After a lot of hurdled and failures, he was finally able to start up with Ford motors. Henry Ford’s vision was to bring about a car which was so cheap that everyone could afford to drive it and was also very easily and cost effectively repaired and fixed (Ford & Crowther, 1922). He translated his vision into his T car model which proved to be a great success. Today Ford Motors is a well-known brand with having stakes in other very famous brands as well, like Mazda and Aston Martin. Its headquarters are located in Michigan. Ford is ranked the second-largest automaker being US based and attains a fifth position globally for being the largest auto maker in Europe. Ford Motor Company has taken a lot of environmental initiatives in order to pursue their corporate social responsibility (Sorenson & Williamson, 1957). They have manufactured and made compressed natural gas vehicles, ethanol (flexible fuel) vehicles as well as electric and hybrid electronic vehicles. The position which Ford Motor Company enjoys luxuriously is only because of the vision of one man, Mr. Henry Ford. As a leader, he gave importance to giving value to workers along with maintaining a high level of self belief in them (Sorenson & Williamson, 1957). He always ensured to pay his workers high, which is why he was able to attract all the talent from all over the world towards is company (Sorenson & Williamson, 1957). Henry Ford understood that the only way to enhance the true potential in us is to understand the importance of work. He observed that work is an indispensable part of us as human beings and our achievement as individuals will come only as a result of us using our true working potential (Sorenson & Williamson, 1957). This is the main reason why he never thought of requiring, as for him life was work and work was life. The leadership style of Henry Ford was that of a transformational leader. It is said so because he was able to articulate his vision with the action plans of his subordinates. Not only this makes him a transformational leader, he was also always very proactive then reactive (Sward, 1948). He was undoubtedly a charismatic leader which is completely shown by his desire to make a car which was affordable for each and everyone (Sward, 1948). The basic four traits which form the basis of a transformational leadership style are to be able to influence credibility, to inspire subordinates towards motivation, to address people with intellectual stimulation and lastly to have individualized consideration. Henry Ford had perfectly and completely mastered these four traits (Sward, 1948). Ford was always very motivation towards his workers and believed that people when happy and satisfied can be much more productive than people who are not happy an =d satisfied. He used to pay double wages than that of the market along with other rewards, incentives and bonuses (Sward, 1948). He also reduced the working hours a day for his workers so that they remain mentally and physically fresh. All this added to make Fords dream into a reality and the company kept lurching forward towards more and more efficiency and in turn became a well renowned name of all times. He was an amazing intellectual stimulation as well (Sward, 1948). His way of transforming his dream into the progress of the company, that also, at the benefit of his employees was incredibly remarkable. He was also anti violence and always demanded peace and prosperity (Sward, 1948). Henry Ford in my opinion was a very successful leader as he had the charisma in him as well as the courage to not only dream but to also make his dreams turn into reality. He was a quick thinker which is why he was able to bring about a change in the manufacturing of the automobile industry by introducing the assembly line system which is still used by many businesses. He was also a successful leader because he followed rules but never went far enough to follow them at the cost of a Human beings (Bak, 2003). He was always fair in his dealings and very motivating towards his employees. He started the company in his life time and watched it succeed and rise up to the top during his life time only. The height which Ford Motors has reached is not possible for a company to achieve in such a less span of time (Bak, 2003). Since Ford was a good employer and offered good rewards and payments to his employees, he had a multicultural workforce, as people from all over the World used to and still aspire to work to the Ford Motor Company. Even after having a multicultural workforce, Henry Ford was able to address everyone individually. His charisma had no boundaries, neither did his vision. He was a perfect example of an old leader who still was able to incorporate change and completely be able to adjust and take advantage of a multicultural setting. His multicultural workforce never complained of any sort of racial discrimination. Henry Ford was a transformational leader and so believed in the empowerment of people and in justice, therefore, he was and is a great example for the leaders of today t follow in a multicultural setting. SOURCES Bak, R. (2003). Henry and Edsel: the creation of the Ford Empire. Wiley. Ford, H. and Crowther, S. (1922). My life and work. New York: Doubleday. Sward, K. (1948). The legend of Henry Ford. New York: Rinehart. Sorenson, C. and Williamson, S.T. (1957). Forty years with Ford. London: Jonathan Cape. Read More