Human Relations in Organizations: Applications and Skill Building 8th Edition by Robert Lussier

Exercise 45

You should have studied the normative leadership decision-making model text material. Using the appropriate exhibit, either Exhibit 13.5 or 13.6, determine the appropriate leadership style for the given problem statements below. Follow these steps:
1. Determine which of the two normative leadership models to use for the given situation.
2. Answer the variable questions (you will answer between 2 and 7 of the diagnostic questions) for the problem.
3. Select the appropriate leadership style of the model.
a. Production department manager. You are the manager of a mass-produced manufactured product. You have two major machines in your department, with 10 people working on each. You have an important order that needs to be shipped first thing tomorrow morning. Your boss has made it very clear that you must meet this deadline. It's 2:00 and you are right on schedule to meet the order deadline. At 2:15 an employee comes to tell you that one of the machine is smoking a little and making a noise. If you keep running the machine, it may make it until the end of the day and you will deliver the important shipment on time. If you shut down the machine, the manufacturer will not be able to check the machine until tomorrow and you will miss the deadline. You call your boss and there is no answer. You don't know how else to contact the boss or how long it will be before the boss gets back to you if you leave a message. There are no higher-level managers than you or anyone with more knowledge of the machine than you. Which leadership style should you use?
Step 1. Which model should you use? (___ time ______ driven development-driven)
Step 2. Which questions did you answer, and how (H = high, L = low, NA = not answered/skipped)? Circle your answers.
Step 3. Which leadership style is the most appropriate?
____decide ____ consult individually _____ consult group ____ facilitate _______ delegate
b. Religious leader. You are the top religious leader of your church, which has 200 members from 125 families. You have a doctorate of religious studies, with just two years' experience as the head of a church, but you have taken no business courses. The church has one paid secretary; three part-time program directors for religious instruction, music, and social activities; plus many volunteers. Your paid staff serves on your advisory board with 10 church members who are primarily top-level business leaders in the community. You make a yearly budget with the board's approval. The church's source of income is members' weekly donations. The board doesn't want to operate in the red, and the church has very modest surplus funds. Your volunteer accountant (CPA), who is a board member, asked to meet with you. During the meeting, she informed you that weekly collections are down 20 percent below budget and that the cost of utilities has increased 25 percent over the yearly budget figure. You are running a large deficit, and at this rate, your surplus will be gone in two months. Which leadership style will you use in this crisis?
Step 1. Which model should you use? (_____ time-driven ______ development-driven)
Step 2. Which questions did you answer and how (H = high, L = low, NA = not answered/skipped)? Circle your answers.
Step 3. Which leadership style is the most appropriate?
_____ decide _____ consult individually _____ consult group _____ facilitate _____ delegate
c. School of business dean. You are the new dean of the school of business at a small private university. Your faculty includes 20 professors, only 2 of which are nontenured, and the average number of years at the school is 12. On taking the job, you expected to leave for a larger school in three years. Your primary goal is to start a business school faculty advisory board to improve community relations and school alumni relations, and to raise money for financial aid scholarships. You have already done this in your previous job as dean. However, you are new to this area and have no business contacts. You need help to develop a network of alumni and community leaders fairly quickly if you are to show achieved results on your resume in 2½ years. Your faculty gets along well and is talkative, but when you approach small groups of them, they tend to become quiet and to disperse. Which primary leadership style would you use to achieve your objective?
Step 1. Which model should you use? (___ time-driven _____ development-driven)
Step 2. Which questions did you answer and how (H = high, L = low, NA = not answered/skipped)? Circle your answers.
Step 3. Which leadership style is the most appropriate?
________ decide ______ consult individually ______ consult group ____ facilitate ______ delegate
d. Dot-com president. You are the president of a dot-com company that has been having financial problems for a few years. As a result, your top two managers left for other jobs. One left four months ago and the other two months ago. With your networking contacts, you replaced both within a month, so the new managers don't have a lot of time on the job and haven't worked together for very long. Additionally, they currently do their own thing to get their jobs done. However, they are both very bright, hardworking, and dedicated to your vision of what the company can be. You know how to turn the company around and so do your two key managers. To turn the company around, you and your two managers will have to work together, with the help of all your employees. Virtually all the employees are high-tech specialists who want to be included in decision making. Your business partners have no more money to invest. If you cannot turn a profit in four to five months, you will most likely go bankrupt. Which primary leadership style would you use to achieve your objective?
Step 1. Which model should you use? (_____ time-driven ______ development-driven)
Step 2. Which questions did you answer and how (H = high, L = low, NA = not answered/skipped)? Circle your answers.
Step 3. Which leadership style is the most appropriate? decide consult individually consult group facilitate delegate
Objective: To develop your skill at determining the appropriate leadership style to use in a given situation using the normative leadership model.
AACSB: The primary AACSB learning standard skills developed through this exercise are leadership and analytic skills.
Experience: You will use the normative leadership model in four given problem situations.
The instructor goes over the normative leadership model and illustrates how to use it to select the appropriate leadership style for problem situation a.
Break into groups of two or three and use the model to determine the appropriate leadership style for situations b through d in the preparation above. The instructor will then go over or just state the answers to situations b through d.
Conclusion: The instructor may lead a class discussion and/or make concluding remarks.
Application (2-4 minutes): What did I learn from this experience? How will I apply the normative leadership model in the future?
Sharing: Volunteers give their answers to the application section.