What behaviors did Ratan Tata exhibit that made him an effective or ineffective leader?
Ratan Tata has mainly proven to be a successful leader. Tata Group has reached substantial growth under his management. One of the key events in the corporation that occurred during that time was the acquisition of several large companies. This shows that Ratan Tata, as a leader, was not eager to compete but rather searched for options to expand the market through acquiring businesses. This trait of non-aggressive existence supported his understanding of harmony. While some managers engage in politics to gain certain benefits for themselves and their companies, Ratan Tata stood apart from this field. His primary concern was to lead people by example, and this could not be achieved if he was engaged in corruption.
However, not all companies of Tata Group were successful. Some of them showed a gradual decrease in revenues and brought the corporation down by their financial representation. Despite this fact, Ratan Tata did not want to close those companies. This fact also characterizes him as a good leader. Instead of focusing on revenues, he decided to put his effort into creating wellbeing for his employees. This step has two leadership benefits. Firstly, Ratan Tata was a good leader since he created a rewarding and safe environment for his employees. This served as a base for developing motivation among them and creating loyalty to the corporation. Secondly, his company was more than just a business. His concern was to make the Indian economy stronger by creating workplaces and achieving skills development. Thus, Tata’s actions were targeted at creating value for the community, which could be considered a strong leadership position.
Evaluate Daniel Goleman’s notion of “Emotional Intelligence” describes six different styles of leadership, the most effective leaders can move among these styles, adopting the one that meets the needs of the moment.
How can all become part of a leader’s behavior?
Every manager needs to have an emotional potential to be flexible in adopting different leadership styles. While some situations call for collecting various opinions from employees, others stress the importance of control. It must be stated that different leadership styles cannot exist in a single situation. Daniel Goleman’s theory of emotional intelligence adequately states that knowing how to develop the best strategy is not enough to be a successful leader. Guiding people requires a lot of emotional engagement and an understanding of workers’ psychology behind their actions.
An effective leader should learn to both commands and listen to others. When a situation does not possess a time resource and an unpopular decision has to be made, the commanding leadership style would be the most appropriate decision. On the contrary, leaders should adopt a democratic approach when the business situation is favorable. Different opinions would help a company to develop further in a way that one person is not always capable of predicting. Sometimes parties are at the conflict stage, and a manager should be able to take an affiliative attitude towards the process to find a common decision. Finally, a mature business can afford to focus on employees’ development, and a coaching leadership style would be the most appropriate for it. All these factors serve as proof that a good leader evaluates the situation correctly and behaves correspondingly.
What style of leadership Tata has adopted?
If discussing six leadership styles, it is important to understand that Tata most probably used all of them depending on the situation. However, the case study shows evidence of him being a visionary leader. Tata’s decision to keep all his companies working despite their lack of financial success proves that he was concerned with the bigger idea of creating wellbeing in the community. While this decision was not supported by capitalistic rules of eliminating departments that do not bring enough revenue, the distant goal of creating a better economic future for the society might have stood behind the company’s success. Employees who are motivated become valuable assets, especially during the times when a company experiences hardships.
There is no evidence of Ratan Tata adopting a commanding leadership style, yet some of his decisions support this idea. He did not listen to his financial executives who offered him an idea to close the departments that did not generate enough income. While this decision could have been discussed in a democratic way with the consideration of all opinions, the most probable scenario was Ratan Tata deciding on his own about the future of those assets. In general, a democratic leadership style is not something that is widely practiced in Asia. It is more common for a single manager to make decisions while other board members agree with the offered strategies to keep the harmony inside a business community. However, the case of Tata Group might have been different since its CEO had gone through several positions inside it and understood the importance of competencies possessed by other employees, such as department managers.