Alan Mulally, CEO, Ford Motor Company
Alex B. Wilson
Dr. Daniel C. Frost
Leadership and Organizational Behavior- BUS 520
November 16, 2011
Strayer University-Allentown Campus

Alan Mulally, CEO, Ford Motor Company
1. Discuss the role of leadership and how it can impact organizational performance.
Answer:
Leadership is the process of developing ideas and visions, living by values that support those ideas and that vision, influencing others to embrace them in their own behaviors, and making hard decisions about human and other resources (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011, p. 290). Whereas according to Richard et al. (2009), organizational performance comprises the actual output or results of an organization as measured against its intended goals and objectives. Effective leadership is a personal role that requires the blending of motivational, strategic and management skills to align focus, energy and drive while creating a culture that encourages individual thinking and attainment. For a leadership to impact organizational performance positively, said leadership has to posses the four leadership traits of intelligence-successful leaders tend to have somewhat higher intelligence than their subordinates; maturity and breadth-successful leaders tend to be emotionally mature and have a broad range of interests; achievement drive-successful leaders are result oriented; when they achieve one goal, they seek another and integrity-successful leaders, over the long term, usually have integrity. A leadership that possesses the above mentioned characteristics is clear, concise, open, and honest and conveys these characteristics to employees to gain their trust and loyalty and the employees in return feel valued, respected and trustworthy and are more likely to put forth maximum capabilities to achieve organizational goals (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011, p. 297). Successful organizational performance relies on the proper behavior from managers and employees. Leadership can be an evolutionary process in companies. Leadership skills can help change an employee mentality by instilling an ownership mindset. Leadership can help a business maintain singular focus on its operations. Larger business organizations can suffer from too many individuals attempting to make business decisions. Business owner can use leadership skills to get managers and employees on the same page and refocus on the original goal. Leadership skills can also help correct poor business practices or internal conflicts between employees (Osmond Vitez, 2011). Additionally, the performance of an organization can be measured by the effectiveness of its leadership. This includes how effectively leadership communicates and translates the vision and strategy of the organization to its members. How well the organization goals, objectives and strategic focus are carried out by its member; how focused the leadership of the organization is, in utilizing collaborative skills and the ability to remain flexible in motivating others with an appeal to the common interests of the organization. Motivation is imperative as to how effective leadership articulates the organizations’ performance through the needs of others and inspiring them to perform (Ben Thompson, 2011). Performance of the organization can be measured by its strategic direction and extent of the organization over the long-term. The leadership, therefore, can substantiate successful performance of the organization through its planning and focus on resources within a challenging environment to meet the needs of that organization and subsequently fulfill stakeholders’ expectations. Finally, leadership can have a negative impact on organizational performance. Leaders who are overly dominant or become obsessed with achieving goals can overlook various details in the business organization. Managers and employees may also be less willing to help dominant