Nels Olivas’ leadership style

1.      Prior to the release of the memo on adjustments and rebates, Nels Olivas’ leadership style can be considered as democratic since he always believe on the capabilities of his subordinates in maintaining good levels of customer satisfaction aside from the fact that he also seem to be approachable to many employees which created enough room for trust and honesty to rule over the management floors. Because of the high morale of employees, customers always derive high levels of satisfaction every time they visit the motel which in turn improved the sales of the company. One positive aspect of democratic type of leadership, that is, the fact that  team members feel that they are being valued by their leader or the management (Clark, 2005). On the negative side, it takes a lot of time to implement rules and policies since the management or the leader must consult first the employees regarding their view on the concerned rules and policies.

2.      After the release of the memo, Nels Olivas’ leadership style suddenly turned from democracy to authoritarian. He decided right away to put a stop on the adjustments, unless with his permission or signature, to bills made by cashiers and supervisors at the front desk and food and beverage outlets without even consulting other members of the management team. Putting a stop into the rebates only gave the company detrimental effects not only on the sales but also on the morale of the employees as dishonesty come into being in the management floor. Authoritarian may also result to the decline of employees’ performance as they become more de-motivated resulting to the deterioration of the quality of their services. On the other hand, one possible benefits of dictatorship, that is, the fact that the management can easily implement rules and regulation at the minimum time period.

3.      If I were on the position of Nels Oliva, I will first change the rebate promo into releasing gift certificates. Customers can have gift certificates after a number of visits or after purchasing certain amount of food and beverages on our outlets. Since gift certificate, as a form of marketing strategy, is less costly compared to giving rebates, this strategy will result to the improvement of cash flow of the organization while at least maintaining the satisfaction of the customers. This strategy, in other words, will not only improve the financial status of the organization but also the sales aspect as more customers continue to enjoy our services and promos; plus the fact that the management will be able to preserve the harmonious working atmosphere within the organization.

4.      My main goal is to formulate a new marketing program which will serve as an alternative to rebate promo and can improve not only the cash flow of the organization but can also maintain the level of satisfaction that customers derived every time they visit us. Specifically, the said strategy aims to prepare all management level from the implementation of the new marketing program and launch trainings/seminars to improve the knowledge of the employees regarding the new marketing strategy. The performance of the new marketing strategy, which is the gift certificate, will be monitored and evaluated on the first quarter of its implementation. The management will continue implementing the said marketing strategy if the evaluation will render positive results. In case of having a negative outcome, the management will again call for a meeting to review the marketing strategy and pin-point its loopholes. Suggestions will be solicited from every employee to improve the performance of the gift certificate as an alternative marketing strategy to rebates. If, at the end of the day, the management failed to improve the gift certificate strategy, the management will again search for another marketing strategy that can provide them with better cash flows, sales, and can provide harmonious working environment.

References

Clark, Don (2008). Leadership Styles. Retrieved January 28, 2008, from http://www.skagitwatershed.org/~donclark/leader/leadstl.html