Evaluating Leadership Styles: A Case Study on Plastic Division

This case study examines the leadership styles present within a plastic division, identifying autocratic, laissez-faire, and democratic approaches. Rusty embodies an autocratic style, emphasizing strict rules and independent decision-making. Ed Sullivan, as general manager, demonstrates laissez-faire leadership by delegating decision-making authority. Wallace adopts a democratic style, fostering participation and feedback from team members. The study suggests that Wallace's democratic approach is more effective for promoting collaboration and productivity compared to Rusty's autocratic style, which can lead to negative impacts on the production process. The analysis highlights the importance of adapting leadership styles to encourage employee engagement and improve overall organizational performance. Desklib provides access to this document and a wealth of other study resources for students.

Running head: CHANGES IN THE PLASTIC DIVISION
Changes in the plastic division
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note

1CHANGES IN THE PLASTIC DIVISION
Table of Contents
Answer 1:...................................................................................................................................2
Answer 2:...................................................................................................................................3
Answer 3:...................................................................................................................................3
References:.................................................................................................................................5

2CHANGES IN THE PLASTIC DIVISION
Answer 1:
Three types of leadership style can be seen in the given case study, which are -
autocratic style, laissez faire style and democratic style. Description of those leadership style
and relation of those concepts with the given case study are shown below.
Autocratic style: Rusty’s leadership procedure reflects the autocratic style of leadership.
Under an autocratic leadership style, the leader always remains concerned about the
leadership position and the entire decision making procedure remains under the control of an
individual (Chee, Rasyid, Tengah & Low, 2017). In the given case study, Rusty follows very
strict rules regarding the work culture of two factories. He takes all decision independent to
run the production procedure. According to him, workers need to compromise with the work
culture or they can leave the job. Hence, this kind of attitude clearly indicates an autocratic
style.
Laissez-Faire Style of Leadership: Ed Sullivan, general manager of the plastic factory,
follows the laissez-faire style of leadership. Under this leadership style, the leader cannot take
any decision regarding business and the person allows other group members to take this
responsibility (Jiang & Jia 2018). Hence, group members feel free to take any decision and
this further hampers the entire production process. In the given case study, Sullivan does not
have any faith on him to take any decision. Hence, he hires Rusty and gives him complete
freedom to take any decision regarding the production procedure. Moreover, Ed provides
very little guidance to Rusty and allows him to work independently.
Democratic Style of Leadership: Under the democratic leadership style, group members get
more opportunity to participate in the process of decision-making and this management style
further motivates them to perform efficiently. In this leadership style, leader gives

3CHANGES IN THE PLASTIC DIVISION
opportunity to exchange decision-making ideas with workers (Mohiuddin, 2017). Hence, the
chief characteristic of this leadership style is that a sole leader does not take any decision
alone. Moreover, the leader also accepts criticism and praise from group members, related to
a decision. Wallace follows this leadership style regarding the decision- making procedure.
He contacts with key management people and shares his decision with them. Moreover, he
starts a suggestion system so that group members can criticise or praise any decision and can
reflect their own opinion.
Answer 2:
Wallace will use democratic style of leadership with Rusty and with other group
members, regarding the decision making procedure. Hence, before taking any decision,
Wallace will share his decision with all group members and will allow them to criticise or
praise this decision according to their work experience (Sebastian, 2018). Thus, in the
decision-making procedure, he includes operative employees and creates a planning
committee that includes both management members and operative members. However, the
ultimate power to take a decision completely depends upon the leader. Thus, Rusty will be
unable to take any business decision independently. However, he can share his opinion with
Wallace regarding any business decision and can provide suggestion to Wallace. In other
words, Rusty’s decision-making power will be controlled by Wallace.
Answer 3:
In the given case study, Rusty is opposing the leadership style of Wallace as he wants
to take decision freely. He strongly follows autocratic style of leadership and does not want to
share his business decision with his group members. This style of leadership has both positive
impacts and negative impacts on the production procedure. Excessive control of leader
hampers the entire production system. Moreover, group members cannot share their decision

4CHANGES IN THE PLASTIC DIVISION
with leader. They only follow the command of leader during the production process. To take
quick decision and control the overall production system strongly, this kind of leadership acts
effectively (Nguyen, Winata & Chong 2017). However, most of the time, this leadership
process leads other group members negatively as they do not want to work with their interest.
Hence, in most of the situation, this leadership style acts negatively and the entire production
process hampers adversely. Thus no one can agree with Rusty as this style o leadership has a
negative impact on entire production system.
To operate a production system appropriately and efficiently, a leader should follow
democratic style of leadership. Under this leadership style, a leader allows his group
members to share their opinion for a particular decision (Gandolfi & Stone, 2017). This
further influences group members to work appropriately and efficiently. However, the
ultimate power of adopting a decision finally depends completely on the leader. Hence, the
leader enjoys the ultimate power to take any decision. Moreover, the productive capacity of
entire group members increases positively which is desirable for any leader or for any
business organisation. Hence, to increase productivity, a business organisation should follow
democratic style of leadership.

5CHANGES IN THE PLASTIC DIVISION
References:
Chee, H. K., Rasyid, N. M., Tengah, R. Y., & Low, J. F. L. (2017). RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN LEADERSHIP STYLE AND PERFORMANCE OF PERAK SUKMA
ATHLETES AND COACHES. Journal of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, 9(6S),
1323-1333.
Gandolfi, F., & Stone, S. (2017). The Emergence of Leadership Styles: a clarified
categorization. Revista de Management Comparat International, 18(1), 18.
Jiang, Z., & Jia, Z. R. (2018). Effects of Physical Education teachers’ leadership styles and
classroom climate on learning motivation for basketball course. Eurasia Journal of
Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 14(4), 1351-1357.
Mohiuddin, Z. A. (2017). Influence of Leadership Style on Employees performance:
Evidence from Literatures. Journal of Marketing and Management, 8(1), 18.
Nguyen, T. T., Mia, L., Winata, L., & Chong, V. K. (2017). Effect of transformational-
leadership style and management control system on managerial performance. Journal
of Business Research, 70, 202-213.
Sebastian, J. (2018). Gender differences in participatory leadership: An examination of
principals’ time spent working with others. International Journal of Education Policy
and Leadership, 12(8).