Effective Managerial Leadership in Micro and Small Business Enterprises – A Case Study of Selected Small Business Enterprises in Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh

The study examines the effective managerial leadership styles in Micro and Small Business Enterprises. Business means an occupation profession or trade. A business assumes universal importance as a problem requiring coordination to form into a whole all the inter-dependant or coordinated parts. A manager’s behaviour is what makes the difference between effective and ineffective organisations. Managerial leadership combines the skills of a manager and the qualities of a leader. Businesses are classified into sectors and there are 17 sectors among the 84 business enterprises taken for study. Among the 84 enterprises 9 are owned and managed by women managerial leaders. The indicators of women empowerment are presented to show how women can be empowered by the rich experience and economic status they gain as women business leaders. In 21 business firms the autocratic and democratic mixed leadership style is adopted. But the decisions taken at the top level are explained to the subordinates and the subordinates were convinced of the benefits of the decision for the entire organisation. There is only one sector in which the employee oriented leadership is followed in addition to the largest number of firms adopting autocratic (10), democratic (7), and autocratic and democratic (4) styles of leadership. General Merchants believe that employee orientation impacts on the working of the employees as the employees feel their interests are also considered. Out of 72 respondents 26 (36 per cent) expressed dissatisfaction with respect to category-III benefits, which include benefits related to family welfare, children’s education and provision for entertainment. The managerial leadership in the micro and small business enterprises is able to satisfy 38 out of the 72 respondents including 7 women. It indicates the ability of the manages to look into the well-being of their subordinates.