Introduction

Enterprise Rent-A-Car (Enterprise) has a fleet of more than a million cars worldwide. It employs over 75,000 people. It was founded by Jack Taylor. He had the simple belief - ‘take care of your customers and employees first and profits will follow’. Enterprise has four key aims. These are:

• customer satisfaction
• growth
• developing employees
• making a profit.

To succeed a business needs good leaders.

Leadership and management

Managers need many skills. They plan, organise and set budgets. They also control operations. Good leadership is also vital at all levels of business. Enterprise has an open door policy so that all staff can have direct contact with managers. Different leaders use different styles of management. Managers tend to prefer one style. Some are autocratic. These tell people what to do. Some are more democratic. They let everyone help to decide. The style should always fit the circumstance. Sometimes a direct order is best, at other times discussion is better. When Enterprise recruits, it looks for leadership qualities, which it considers core competencies.

Autocratic style

This is when a leader decides something on his or her own. Whether or not this style works is linked to how workers will respond. Douglas McGregor described ‘Theory X’ and ‘Theory Y’ workers. Theory X workers need to be told what to do. Theory Y types want to do well. They would like to keep control of their own work. Enterprise wants staff to use their skills to maintain high service levels. They can only do this if trusted, so an autocratic style is not appropriate at this level. It is appropriate in other instances. For example, CEO Andy Taylor insists that everyone follows the ESQi customer satisfaction measures. Other concepts that apply to the whole business may also come from senior managers.

Democratic style

In many parts of the business, all staff can help in decision-making. At local office and branch level, decisions need to fit local circumstances. It motivates staff to be trusted and able to act independently. When staff are given the power to make decisions, this makes them more motivated. It makes them better at their job. This is called empowerment.

Laissez faire

This means ‘let be’. It defines a looser style of management. It sets broad limits and allows staff to work freely within them. Many local branches have this sort of freedom. However, they still work within Enterprise’s own guidelines. One example is the Jack Taylor Founding Values Award. This is for community projects. Each region decides what it will do to win the award. The winners also choose what projects they will spend the prize money on.

Conclusion

Management is all about getting things done. Good management is also about being a leader. Enterprise managers are picked because they can lead. They will use different management styles as the situation demands within the business framework and values.