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Leadership Paper: LMD Toys Company

MGT 330: Management: Theory, Practice, Application

Ralph Helwig

May 07, 2003

Leadership Paper: LMD Toys Company

LMD Toys is one of the most impressive success stories of the past quarter century. What is the secret to its success? From the top executives to all the way down the organizational structure, there are leaders who focus their energies on building commitment to the company and executing the company mission. As soon as one vision is accomplished, another quickly replaces it. LMD Toys is an ever-evolving company, involving everyone along the way. This paper will discuss leadership and its relationship to success and how LMD Toys continues to flourish under the transformational style of leadership that has been established since the day it was founded.
What is Leadership?

Leadership is a key management function. “Leadership is generally defined as influencing others to work willing toward achieving objectives.” (Dessler, 2001, p.168). Leaders motivate employees to pursue a company vision. There is an old business saying, “Lead, follow, or get out of the way.” In order to be an effective leader of a large or diverse organization, one must have the courage to lead, follow, and get out of the way, depending on the situation. Every large organization has dozens or hundreds of leaders without titles who know just how to do that (Goddard, 2002, p.35). There are generally two types of leadership styles, transactional and transformational. Transactional leaders focus more on accomplishing tasks. They are job-centered leaders who concentrate on production and the technical aspects of performing a job. The transformational leader is more people-oriented; they focus on the individuality and personality of their employees. These leaders are charismatic and inspirational.

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