Mary Barra Leadership Traits

My name is Alicia Carrullo and I'll be discussing the leadership style of Mary Barra. In today's society, each of us approach leadership with different beliefs and emotions about how to treat others and their work ethic. Based on a person's personality and what management feels is best for the team, leadership styles can vary. Chapter three in the textbook covers leadership theories, assumptions, and the execution or practice of each of these styles. Barra is someone who is aware that leadership requires reflection and change. When Mary Barra needs to step up to the plate, she keeps three main principles in top of her mind, solving the problem, transparency, and customer support. Based on this information, we can concur that Mary Barra possesses characteristics of a transformational leader. She has handled all issues related to the company gracefully and has placed attention on transforming the culture of the company as a unit. Transformational leaders help improve the effectiveness and efficiency of others in the company. This is something that Barra has inspired and helped to many others to strive for their best. These are all traits of a transformational leader and Mary Barra is an example of this leadership style. Reading the book and researching a bit more, I was able to learn about an individual by the name of Douglas McGregor. Douglas McGregor believed that managers needed to understand their core assumptions in human nature. He then came up with two theories, theory x and theory y. He argued that the needs of mankind are both interesting such as the need for meaning, purpose, and accomplishment and extrinsic as in the need for reward, recognition, and upward mobility at work. With these theories, McGregor wanted to understand why workers were unhappy despite being financially stable. His theory x reflected the so-called scientific notation, management notions, while theory y reflected the humanistic ideas that people have a natural inclination to grow, to contribute, and to learn. Mary Barra's leadership style falls more under the theory y. This theory had many assumptions. One of the many that stated that in proper environment, the average person wants to accept and seek responsibility. In other words, theory y leaders give workers ways to solve and improve work. This is the characteristic that a democratic leader possesses. Mary Barra treats her employees, all of her employees, as fully capable of doing their own work. She does not control her employees but instead makes sure that everyone has an equal right to input their ideas. Her leadership style encouraged all level employees to share information. It also helped them to perform better and motivated them to achieve task objectives which later resulted in beneficial outcomes. We can concur that her leadership style saved GM from bankruptcy, increased the company's value, and reduced unprofitable and so on. Barra has shaken up the GM ranks with her leadership style.