Summary: Autocratic Leadership Style

3.0 Findings

3.1 Issues/ Challenges faced in the Leadership Management

Autocratic Leadership Style

Firstly, autocratic leadership style of Mr.Zong might cause the employees to have low morale. This is because there are people who do not like to be told what to do, particularly those who are intrinsically motivated and have the good understanding on the task appointed especially employees with Theory Y attitudes who have strong desires to participate in the decision making process (“The X, Y and Z,” n.d). According to Friesen (2015), showing trust toward the workers will lead to higher morale and motivation.

Secondly, Cruz & Melissa’s research (2014) revealed that Generation Y are strongly distaste for an autocratic leadership style. They do

In 1996, a joint venture agreement was signed between Danone and Wahaha (WIKIPEDIA, 2016). However, Zong was found illegally setting up secret companies which selling the same or similar products as the joint venture but for which Danone received no money sometime after 2003 (Barboza & Kanter, 2007). Thus, causing legal battles to ensue.

Self-confidence

Self-confidence is not always a good leadership trait. Mr.Zong planned to open 100 malls around the country within three to five years (Zhang, 2014). In fact, it is not easy for a company to expand business into a totally unfamiliar industry particularly those who lack of thorough preparation. Wahaha rushed into the domestic retailing industry after not more than two years of exploration (Zhang, 2014) and thus results in facing great challenge.

The high-end products sold in WAOW Plaza are all unfamiliar and in lower prices compare to Europe countries. There are some feedbacks from the local China resident saying that the goods sold in WOAW Plaza are not as expensive as high-end brands like Hermès (Zhang, 2014) and making them to doubt about those brands thus affecting the sales performance of WAOW

Zong is considered as a good leader. He has strong decision making skills, good personality and treats which leads him to success. Besides staying in the comfort zone, Mr. Zong always tried new things and take risks. He applied different kinds of strategy such as diversification, acquisitions and reengineering which leads his company to a new milestone: being the largest beverage producer company in China. Through this assignment, we learn that autocratic leadership style is not always the best, as many issues may arise especially employees may felt they are not being appreciated. Therefore, a leader should always be flexible in different kind of situation and it is encouraged to discuss with the employees before making a decision since it helps to generate different kinds of ideas and at the same time it makes employee to feel