Management Essay -- Business Management

Management It is almost always a team of people doing a task is better off than a person doing it. And if the leader is a narrow-minded, tyrant that has the stubbornness of a 5-year old child and the temper of a grumpy old person constantly on the verge of explosion, it is sure that the autonomy of the company will by out of sync. It was 2 years ago that a CEO had almost single-handedly almost brought a company to its knees, sending shock throughout all corners of Wall Street. He went by the name of â€Å"Chainsaw Al.† The near crumble of Sunbeam Corporation, a company that specializes in making household and outdoor goods, laid basically in the personality of Al Dunlap and his style of management, where he was autocratic and the structure was too top-down. When organizational structure is so top-down that information and advice only flow downwards and employees’ suggestions are ignored, problems are bound to occur sooner or later. After his one-man show, conducing chaos an d disorder, the board of Sunbeam could no longer stand the horrid situations and fired him. â€Å"You guys are responsible for the demise of Sunbeam! I’m here to tell you that things have changed. The old Sunbeam is over today. It’s OVER!!,† Dunlap screamed at his executives (Byrne 132). â€Å"It was like a dog barking at you for hours. He just yelled, ranted, and raved. He was condescending, belligerent, and disrespectful,† recalls Richard L. Boynton, president of the house-hold products division, during their first of many horrifying executive meetings (Byrne 132). Dunlap had made a name for himself on Wall Street by previous reigns as the best CEO there is, by way of a harsh, tyrannical attitude displayed by mass layoffs to cut excess baggage and a military-like atmosphere. A good leader is someone that shows and leads his troops into the direction that is right for the corporation. Dunlap clearly had a clear idea of what direction he wanted Sunbeam to go in, it was his way of leading them towards his vision that was wrong. One of A l Dunlap’s major faults was his use of power, which lead to doubts in his non-programmable decisions and a group of unhappy campers in his office. Power is the potential to influence people and their behaviors to accomplish something. Al Dunlap had many forms of power that enabled him to lead Sunbeam. First of all, he had legitimate power, pow... ...ith happy employees who respect their leader. The factors of a bad leader, no team work, a bad personality, and the wrong purpose for improvement lead to a bad situation that had no ending of continuous problems since not many people had the power to control him, besides the board of directors which he had hand-picked himself. Dunlap’s firing turned way overdue mainly because many people had relationships with Dunlap that went way back in times. And even when he did get fired, many did not want to be the one announcing his departure. Dunlap’s firing was bound to happen sooner or later since nothing he had done profited the company. Feeling betrayed by Sunbeam and his board, one of his last quotes at a leadership lecture in Australia was â€Å"If you want a friend, buy a dog. I’ve got two† (Byrne 149). Even after all the chaos he caused, he is still so stubborn and caught up in his ego to realize what he had done wrong at Sunbeam. Admitting to one’s mistake is one of the first st eps towards improvement and success. It is no wonder why he’s still unemployed today. Bibliography: Byrne, John A.. 1999 October 18. â€Å"Chainsaw.† BusinessWeek, 128-149.