Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher was born on 13th October 1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. Thatcher became a Conservative member of parliament for Finchley in North London in 1959, serving until 1992. According to Jeff (2013), she was a first woman prime minister in Europe and the longest-serving British Prime Minister of the 20th century. Volkery (2013) stated that Soviet journalist called Thatcher as “Iron Lady”.
Dominant Personalities
Extroversion refers a person is outgoing, sociable, and comfortable talking to new people (Lim & Daft, 2004, p.125). I think Thatcher have a high degree of extroversion. She was willing to meet and talk with people that she had not met before. For example, Thatcher was a first foreign visitor meet Ronald Reagan in United States and she received the warmest possible welcome. After the meeting, they formed a very close personal friendship. Moreover, Thatcher also was a sociable leader. In 1982 she was a first British prime minister to visit China for a discussion with Deng Xiaoping about independence of Hong Kong (Cottrell, 1992). Emotional stability refers a person is calm, secure and high self-confidence (Lim & Daft, 2004, p.126). Extremely high level of self-confident was one of the characteristics of Thatcher. This means she was a leader who willing takes risks and very confidence about her decision. Her economy policy success transformed the city of London. The economy in England had become more productive and more profitable. The decision had she made was decreased direct taxes, increased indirect taxes, and increased interest rates (Smith, 2013). Thatcher was pride of having a nickname called “Iron Lady” which created by Soviet Journalist in 1976 (Gray, 2013).
Leadership Style An autocratic leader should be control all activities and tend to centralize authority. I think Thatcher was a famous autocratic leader. Thatcher has said; “I don’t mind how much my
References: Lim, G. S., & Daft, R. L. (2004). The leadership experience in Asia. Singapore: Thomson Learning. Lim, G. E. (n.d.). Biodata of Lim Guan Eng. Lim Guan Eng. Retrieved May 31, 2013, from http://limguaneng.com/index.php/biodata/ Lim, G Malaysia: the trial of opposition parliamentarian Lim Guan Eng : an update. (1997). London: Amnesty International, International Secretariat.