WEEK 1 DISC 2: Democratic Leadership

Prior to beginning work on this discussion forum, read Chapter 3: How Does One Do It?—A Practitioner’s Perspective and Democratic Leadership.

It is also recommended that you review the articles The Contribution of Personal Values to Democratic Leadership Behavior Focused on the Sustainability of OrganizationsLinks to an external site. and Leadership Style and Performance of EmployeesLinks to an external site..

Louisa Moreno owns an upscale restaurant in a large metropolitan area. Her restaurant is open seven days a week from 4:00pm until midnight. She has a strong following of loyal customers and excellent reviews, which attract more customers. Her restaurant is typically fully booked at an 80% capacity. Louisa created all the recipes for the meals that are served. Louisa employs a full-time manager, two part-time assistant managers, two full-time chefs, and a variety of kitchen and wait staff. She is frequently present in the restaurant. Her staff describes Louisa as a micro-manager. The manager positions have turned over twice in the past year, and both chefs are new as their predecessors left the restaurant. The average time her kitchen and wait staff remain in their jobs is six months. She insists that everything is done her way. She will often provide directives to the kitchen and wait staff, chefs, and managers. She does not listen to her staff’s ideas nor does she involve them in decisions she makes about the restaurant. In the past six months, she has begun to receive complaints from customers about a decrease in quality. Several regular customers have stated that her restaurant is like a “revolving door of help.” Her bookings have begun to decrease, and she is now faced with a 10% average decline in reservations on a weekly basis. Louisa has asked for your help. She knows that she lacks the ability to lead her team effectively and would like your ideas about what she can do.

In an initial post of at least 350 words or more and citing at least two required resources,

• Prepare a report for Louisa on the value of using a democratic leadership approach at her restaurant.
• Describe to Louisa is the characteristics and practices of a democratic leadership approach and steps she could take to implement this approach.
• Review what Louisa could do to build leadership and managerial skills required to effectively manage her staff and business operations.
• Address how adopting this approach might help her with issues of turnover and the decline in bookings.

Tutorial for Democratic Leadership