Movie: Tucker: A Man and His Dream (1988)

1. What type of leader was Preston Tucker? (e.g, servant, transactional, transformational, etc.)

Tucker was a more of a democratic leader. He valued the opinion of his employs in his business. These opinions were reflected in the activities of the company. He was looked up to by his workers. He was motivated to reach his goals and his staff was hence motivated by his commitment. He was helpful to others and did not hesitate to ask for the support of others when he was in trouble. He rushed into decisions. Tucker could have employed the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threat analysis techniques that are helpful for leaders in making decisions (Jackson, Joshi & Erhardt, 2003).

2. Describe Tucker’s entrepreneurial leadership skills, traits, abilities, styles, and actions.

Tucker was a risk tacker and not a person with great planning for what he wanted to achieve. He was a good leader though as his employs believed in him. Effective communication is the key to effective leadership (Lussier, & Achua 190). Tucker was a good communicator and was able to market his ideas to others. If we look at the big five personality traits, he was an extrovert and open to experiences. He had the ability to persuade others and was a man of action who was ready to take risks.

How did followers respond to Tucker? What methods did he use?

Tucker style of management was Theory Y (McGregor, 1960) where he believed in the capabilities of his staff members. He provided the opportunity to make decisions and bring about changes to the car models. This sometimes proved useful and other times there were mismanaged changes to the car model due to the employs making wrong decisions.

3. What type of work environment did Tucker create for his production team?

Tucker provided an environment where the production team had the freedom to bring innovation to the car design. It was this freedom that thing went wrong at some instances and independent production decisions were made that were not in the best interest of the company.

4. Was creating a demo car with old/recycled materials problematic? Consider bootstrapping. Why or why not.

It was problematic to create a demo car with recycled material because it would not have the functions Tucker had advertised. But keeping bootstrapping in mind, it was the best available option to Tucker at that time of financial crisis. He could not have afforded to make a better car without the outside help.