Henry Fords Leadership Style and Culture

Henry Fords Leadership Style and Culture Henry Ford is a well-known figure. An inventor, Successful Entrepreneur and he is a philanthropist and successful American businessmen who was the founder of Ford Motor Company. Henry Ford was born in 30th July 1863 on a farm Greenfield Township Michigan in United State and Ford family were immigrant from Ireland. He lost his mother in 1876 when he was thirteen and he had no interest in taking over his family farm and he moved to city of Detroit. He used to work as an apprentice at the flowers machine shop. In 1896 he was successfully built his first automobile, called quadricyle. Henry Ford started his own Ford Motor Company in 16th June 1903 with $100,000 of capital stock but only $ 28,000 paid in cash. After introducing model T in 01st of October in 1908 his wisdom able to change the millions of lives in that period. Making of Model T is a one of main milestone in the personal transportation. Model T is a car very easy to operate and easy to handle on the rough roads and its automatically became as a huge success in car making industry. In 1918 half of all the American cars were the Ts and because of that Ford had to build-up another large factory in Michigan in 1910. Henry started accurate manufacturing, standardizing and interchanging parts in 1913 and he moved to assembly line system as well. It was a one of greatest revolution of the automobile industry because it reduced the assembly time per vehicle and it done very smoothly and efficiently with law cost. Henry Fords production of T model made the largest automobile manufacturer in the world.   Henry ford is the inventor of the modern day assembly line method of production for his model T cars and hold more than 100 patent for his inventions. He is a leader who had great qualities which proven by his popularity and building affordable cars. Individual consideration / appreciate workers He was a person who appreciated his workers by paying them a huge wages for all of his assembly line workers. Because of that he grab all the talented workers in the region to work in ford. Not only by paying high salaries but also by giving some credits to their work and by making an environment where they happy to work and feel that they are a part of an organization. Believing yourself He believed himself and taught others to believe their self and always push them to go beyond their limits and imagination which could make impossible, a possible. Born to work He realized that work takes an essential part of our lives. As a human being we need to work, in order to reach your goals, to accomplish your dreams, to change impossible to possible. Work represent a huge part of our lives. Cost cutting He implement this method to produce more automobiles which everybody can afford. Reduce the production cost by eliminating expensive options such as luxury look, design, choice of colour and producing automobiles using an assembly line method. Credibility He had all the knowledge about automobiles. His vision is not only invent just a machine but invent it in larger quantities and it should be able to afford for everyone. Intellectual stimulation His way of thinking by introducing the moving assembly line, minimum stock level and minimising wastage. Decision making He was a great decision maker. Made the right thing at the right time. When other manufactures thinking about luxury cars he thought about the affordable cars which is more reliable in economical market. Risk taking Henry Ford is a risk taker because after he became as an unshakable giant in the automotive industry he decided to join to aviation trade and he started manufacturing since 1925 and he built few aircrafts for the US army and passenger transportation but he had to shut it down in 1933 because of poor sales and 1929 economic recession. That is a one of his financial and reputation risk MOTIVATION He is always interested in mechanics. He had a born talent for mechanism and his passion for the machines and most importantly he became as engineer with Edison illuminating company in 1891. Those are the reason to inspire him and dedicate his for the industry. After he established Ford Company he had to compete with the other automotive companies which made him more innovative, self-believing and reputed. Those motivations led him to the success in automobile industry. Individual consideration which means paying high wages, appreciation toward their workers and hardworking (there was a time henry could have retired even though he stayed and work for the company) inspired his team. ANALYSIS HENRY FORD COMPARATIVE WITH OTHER ENTREPRENEURS Henry Ford was a great Entrepreneur and same as Richard Branson funder of Virgin group seen by many of as also a good Entrepreneur and he stared over 200 companies and many of his companies have been succeed but few have still failed but when he comparing with quality of risk taking he is a unbeatable risk taker in every part because he had good gut feeling and he start everything as an apprentice and driven it to the target. Bill gate is another great entrepreneur, contributes to the technical progress in the world like Henry Ford in Automobile industry. He had a great determinations and perseveration to develop the industry and he developed the computer systems and his quality of hard working he driven to his targets. Bill gates and Henry Ford both are having same entrepreneur qualities but within little time period Bill gate able change the IT industry, because he has lots of sources and he is an expert in his field but it is different in Henry Fords time and its cannot be compare to the time who Bill gates living in. William C Durant also a great entrepreneur who started his career as a sales man, later he found the general motor company. He established many automobile companies, most of them are join ventures and blooming, yet few was fallen as a result of Durants poor decision making. If we compare the Durants decision making quality to ford, Durant made the decisions by looking at its present economy and short term success. His poor decision led him to lost the control of GM. General Motors built on their vision and took over to first place in market share by adding variety. But, it was Henry Ford who saw a future much different and much better than his current day. (The title of Fords popular 1926 book, Today and Tomorrow, reflects this). Ford is an innovator, he invented assembly line method to the automobile production though Durant didnt invent any to the industry. Risk taking is another great quality of ford. Not being framed to the automobile production, he took his production to the aviation industry, instead. He built few aircraft to the US Army and passenger transportation. It wasnt successful shut down the company because of poor sales and recession. Durant wasnt a risk taker, he never tried a new industry he just stick to the automobiles. By comparing Henry Fords qualities with William C Durant, Henry ford was great entrepreneur who had all the qualities, such as innovation, rick taking, decision making, to be a great leader to lead his team and organization to the success. HOFSTEDES 5 CULTURAL DIMENSIONS Five dimensions of culture Armed with a large database of cultural statistics, Hofstede analysed the results and found clear patterns of similarity and difference amid the responses along these five dimensions. Interestingly, his research was done on employees of IBM only, which allowed him to attribute the patterns to national differences in culture, largely eliminating the problem of differences in company culture. Power/Distance (PD) This refers to the degree of inequality that exists and is accepted among people with and without power. A high PD score indicates that society accepts an unequal distribution of power and people understand their place in the system. Low PD means that power is shared and well dispersed. It also means that society members view themselves as equals. According to the above explanation henry Fords strategy is categories under the low power/distance (PD). The characteristics of an organization to identify whether a high PD or low PD is are, It should be a flat (horizontal) organization which means, an organization with less or no levels of intervening management between its staff and management. Equalise, the way they treat to the managers or the supervisors are same as the way treat to the employees Ford motor company is an organization with a less management between its staff which relief employees from extra pressure and they are able to see the result of what they have really done, what is the outcome of his action. There are more possibilities to try their new ideas and management can identify the creativity and it can be used for companys success. Employees are loyal to the company. Henry treated everyone in a same manner by appreciating their work not considering who he is, what position he/she hold. Individualism (IDV) This refers to the strength of the ties people have to others within the community. A high IDV score indicates a loose connection with people. In countries with a high IDV score there is a lack of interpersonal connection and little sharing of responsibility, beyond family and perhaps a few close friends. A society with a low IDV score would have strong group cohesion, and there would be a large amount of loyalty and respect for members of the group. The group itself is also larger and people take more responsibility for each others wellbeing. Masculinity (MAS) This refers to how much a society sticks with, and values, traditional male and female roles. High MAS scores are found in countries where men are expected to be tough, to be the provider, to be assertive and to be strong. If women work outside the home, they have separate professions from men. Low MAS scores do not reverse the gender roles. In a low MAS society, the roles are simply blurred. You see women and men working together equally across many professions. Men are allowed to be sensitive and women can work hard for professional success. Henry appointed anyone who has a talent in automobile without any consideration, whether male or female and appreciated in same manner. So the ford company is categories under low MAS. No matter male or female, if company recognized your talent and admire and respect it that persons motivation level is high. That would help an organization to motivate their employees. Uncertainty/Avoidance Index (UAI) This relates to the degree of anxiety society members feel when in uncertain or unknown situations. High UAI-scoring nations try to avoid ambiguous situations whenever possible. They are governed by rules and order and they seek a collective truth. Low UAI scores indicate the society enjoys novel events and values differences. There are very few rules and people are encouraged to discover their own truth. Entering and starting a business in automobile industry is not a tranquil thing. Person must have a knowledge of the industry, product and the economy and talent of course. Henry was risk taker (one of his great leadership quality) which we has seen it from him, when was moved to aviation. His vision aimed the future and strategies were long term. Henry didnt take the decisions by looking at the present economy statues. So its a low UAI. Long Term Orientation (LTO) This refers to how much society values long-standing as opposed to short term traditions and values. This is the fifth dimension that Hofstede added in the 1990s after finding that Asian countries with a strong link to Confucian philosophy acted differently from western cultures. In countries with a high LTO score, delivering on social obligations and avoiding loss of face are considered very important. Henry ford, he is the creator of ford motors he has the power to shut it down and treat the others in the company as he want. There was always a chance for creativity and innovation in the ford company. He didnt falter to do any changes according to the market and the economy. Because of those reasons according to the Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions its a low LTO CONCLUSION In 1999 November Business magazine of Fortune selected Henry Ford as Businessmen (business entrepreneur) of 20th century out of 4 nominative entrepreneurs. Alfred Sloan (General Motors) Thomas Watson (IBM), 20th century business leader Bill Gates and Sheryl James (James) and he got this award honour for transformation of the millions of life styles and for the revolution of automobile world creating a car which was the affordable for working middle class. As the heirs to Henry Fords extraordinary vision of progress because of that others job is to learn from the past and work toward the future. If that happens, perhaps people will be writing about their own generations manufacturing visionaries 100 years from now. He is great entrepreneur, charismatic personality, great leader, hard worker, risk taker and he had an unbeatable great qualities as an entrepreneur and it cannot be compare to another entrepreneur in world. Henry Ford had great ambition and he had a great confidence about himself and he truly believed his dreams come to true and he succeed. There was no way to escape the fact that Henry Ford was the great business impresario of his era or any era for that matter. -Douglas Brinkley, authors, Wheels for the world

A Gap of Sky by Anna Hope Essay

A Gap of Sky is a short story by Anna Hope which deals with the pressure from society and the consequences of it. In our modern society many young people feel the pressure to be perfect like a heavy weight on their shoulders. You need a long, good education. You need to be attractive, be social and have lots of friends. Sometimes the pressure can become too much and you forget what is important in life and gets on the wrong track. In A Gap of Sky we meet Ellie a nineteen year old girl clearly struggling with the pressure from society and her own dreams. She seems in conflict with herself about what she really wants. She studies at a university in London but is close to getting expelled due to her lack of activity and finished assignments and when she wakes up after a long night of partying, she remembers that she has an assignment about Virginia Woolf and if she does not hand it in, she will very likely be expelled. The short story is written chronological and by an omniscient third person narrator but A GAP of Sky also uses the stream of consciousness. We are inside the head of Ellie and are constantly hearing her inner thoughts. For example on page 2 line, 36 â€Å"Should she do the essay first, print it in the morning? No. No time. Needs to be handed in at nine.† We are inside the head of Ellie and hearing her steam of thought. It easily feels like Ellie are the narrator also because of the language used. There is a lot of swearing â€Å"How the fuck did she manages to sleep for so long† (page 1, line 16), â€Å"coffee plunged, poured, slurped; hot, fuck that’s hot† (page 1, line 35). The narrator is not just telling what is happening but how Ellie perceives it. Ellie are having troubles in her life. She is doing drugs, having a hard time performing well in school, and that she does not have a profound social relationship. And it seems she has a difficult relationship with her parents. I will later discuss her relationship with her parents further. In text 4 â€Å"Consequences of youth substance abuse† It mentions that people who frequently use addictive substances often experience problems such as academic difficulties, health problems and low social life. This is all things that Ellie are affected by.

Critically examine Essay

The four items from the book all say that women have the majority of the expectation to do more of the domestic tasks. These tasks include such things like caring for the children emotionally, washing clothes and making sure the house is tidy etc. The man is seen to be the main breadwinner and has little to do with such domestic tasks. There are views that say, however, that men are getting more actively involved, for example item D from M. Denscombe says that â€Å"The amount of time fathers’ spend with their children has increased fourfold over a generation between 1961 and 1995. † But it is very hard to do research within a family unit unless you are in the unit already and can research from within. Item B from M. Jones suggests that the domestic division of labour is not in proportion to the division of employed work, even though there is evidence to suggest that this is sometimes the case, â€Å"generally studies indicate that inequality rather than symmetry is the defining characteristic of the majority of present day marriages. † There are many different sociologists that believe that the division of labour in the home is getting more equal in the present day. Item A involved a huge survey of 543 parents and found that working mothers spend more time on housework than on their full time job. It says that mothers in full time employment spend 56 hours on housework compared to men’s 31 hours a week. This shows that even when the mother is working there is still the expectation for her to be the main carer and house worker; this sort of division of labour, which is expected, is called the â€Å"dual burden†. Item C is from M. Leonard and suggests that women accept the role of the housewife because they want to be seen as a good wife and mother. For this reason they are more likely to accept an unequal division of labour. Willmott and Young (1973) introduced the idea of symmetry, which basically meant that the roles of the husband and wife were equal and balanced. They still agreed that women would take the main responsibility for the childcare and domestic tasks, but said that men were spending about the same amount of time as the women in the home doing home-related activities. The idea of symmetry meant that the domestic tasks would be shared equally, but this would not be strictly true as men were still seen to do the practical jobs such as â€Å"do it yourself† tasks or decorating, while the women would wash up. This meant that they did about the same amount of time on domestic tasks, but they were not shared completely equally. This â€Å"symmetrical† division of labour made the relationship more â€Å"home-centred† and they would spend more of the leisure time together, providing a stronger relationship. Willmott and Young would agree that the domestic tasks have become more equal between the husband and wife. This sort of marriage is called the egalitarian marriage where the tasks are more joint. Burghes would agree with Willmott and Young who say that fathers are more active in childcare these days than they were in the 1960’s. Benston, a Marxist-feminist argues that women are used as reserve army of labour and that the work that they do and the way they work benefits the capitalist system because they are easily employable and can be let off work easier than men. The capitalist system promotes the traditional nuclear family where the man is the breadwinner and the wife is the carer and looks after the house this is because of the capitalist system that treats women as slaves, â€Å"women are the slaves of wage slaves† Rosser and Harris agree with Wilmot and Young’s theory and say that nowadays the husband is expected to help with the household chores, to stay at home or go out for the evening with his wife, to help with the children, to push the pram, to share the major family decisions. The case studies of young married couples confirmed this marked change in the conjugal relationship and the marked contrast within the recent past. This is a big change from years past as the husband is getting more involved with the children and helping out more within the home. Elizabeth Bott argues that the conjugal roles in the home are both segregated and joint. This means that the jobs round the house are shared in terms of time doing them, but they are segregated because the wife would do different tasks to the man. The man would do such jobs like looking after the car and getting things fixed around the house, while the woman would do jobs which are associated with the mother figure, these are such tasks as making sure there is a dinner on the table and looking after the children while they are playing. Bott also argues that the norms and beliefs of the middle class would eventually filter down into the working class. At the moment the middle class has a different system when it comes to domestic division of labour, they tend to have the joint domestic task system, where as the working class have a segregated division of labour. By saying that this will filter down means that eventually the working class will change their division of labour so that the tasks between the husband and wife are joint. In conclusion I think that the roles within the family are being a lot more shared, so are becoming more symmetrical. The husband and wife are beginning to share their domestic tasks and this will bring them closer to each other, this point agrees with that of Willmott and Young when they say that more of the leisure time that they have will be spent together in the home. I also agree with the view from Beck who says that fathers need an identity, which in this modern world is not provided by their work anymore so they look to other places to provide it. More and more fathers are taking an active role in the development of their children, which provides them with the identity, which they need. The involvement should not be exaggerated though because compared to the mother they still don’t play a huge role in the care of the children. This view agrees with Item D, which is the Item that I agree with most as it describes the change of involvement of fathers with their children form the 1960’s to the 1990’s.

The History Of African Music - 1139 Words

The history of Africa dates back four to five million years ago. Throughout Africa’s history, music has always been a consistent element that is important to the culture. The music can vary from being a story passed down orally to a melody that represents a war cry. Many elements of the music that are listened to today have been shaped by older African cultures. Through the usage of different musical components, various instruments, and musical influence, African music heavily contributes to its culture. Africa is considered to be one of, if not the, most important continents to date. Many scientists believe that Africa was the birthplace of mankind, around 1000,000 BC. The first culture was discovered in The Sahara, called the new Stone Age. The people that lived in the Saharan area, and the Sub-Saharan are divided into several tribes. These tribes are characterized by a distinguished language with â€Å"a unique click in its repertoire sounds†. In the Kingdom of Ghana, drumming orchestras, as well as praise-singers, musical storytellers, and reciters played a vital role in helping to kick-start music’s influence within the continent. The different languages and distinct cultures of Africa demonstrate the diversity musically within the continent. It is known that African music has gone through frequent and significant changes throughout the centuries. â€Å"Traditional music† is very different today than what others may consider African music from the past. The musician’sShow MoreRelatedEssay on History of African American Music1267 Words   |  6 PagesYasmin Gonzalez Mrs. Herrera Junior English 1 March 2012 History of African American Music â€Å"In less than a minute, the death wail went up out of every cabin in the Quarters, and Brother Ezekial began the death chant: Soon one morning, Death come knocking at my door†¦. Oh, my lord, What shall I do† (Walker 17)? Death was common for slaves. 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