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Management Styles and Costco Success
According to recent research, there are three main management styles in service operations: the Messiah style, the Servant style, and the Commander style (Henderson & Silva, 2019). A Messiah management style is focused on the customer and empowers employees. Managers take on mentor roles. Although similar to the Messiah, it places more emphasis on cooperation and teamwork. Finally, the Commander style is more directive, with managers taking a more top-down approach and focusing on efficiency and results (Henderson & Silva, 2019). Costco appears to employ a mix of both the Servant-Commander style and the Commander style. Kim and Lee (2018) found that Costco management is focused on customer satisfaction as well as efficiency. They also place a high emphasis on profitability and cost control. In terms of measuring success, the company uses a variety of metrics, including customer satisfaction scores and financial performance indicators such as sales and return on investment (Kim & Lee, 2020). In terms of quality, it appears that Costco does prioritize the concepts espoused by Juran, such as continuous improvement and customer focus (Kim & Lee, 2020).
