Leadership Case Problem A W4 Discussion Post your Leadership Case Problem answers to both case studies to the Discussion Board. Follow the Case Study Forma

Leadership Case Problem A W4 Discussion Post your Leadership Case Problem answers
to both case studies to the Discussion Board. Follow the Case Study Format that is provided to you in this module. You should fully analyze the
case studies by first identifying the key issues and likely root causes before you attempt to answer the questions in the textbook associated with
each case study. The length of your post should range between 500 words minimum
and 1,500 words maximum.100 word response and post 1-6 Post your Leadership Case Problem answers to case Chapter 7 and chapter 8 to the
Discussion Board. Follow the Case Study Format that is provided to you in this module.
You should fully analyze the case studies by first identifying the key issues and likely
root causes before you attempt to answer the questions in the textbook associated
with each case study. The length of your post should range between 500 words
minimum and 1,500 words maximum.
Chapter 5 Supervisory Styles at the Red Rascal
Chapter 6 The Extreme Craft Brew
100 word response and post 1-6
100 word response to each of the following 6 cases.
1. Alexandra Devries posted Jan 29, 2019 10:32 PM
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Key Issues:
Ray, the new manager at a fitness club, was doing well after his promotion.
His staff was motivated, there was barely any customer complaints, and he
had only 1 person quit on him; however, his club has declining enrollment.
Larry, the CEO, wants Ray to do whatever it takes to increase enrollment
and will not give him any advice on how to do so as it is not his
responsibility.
Contributory Factors:
Ray worked his way up from a fitness instructor to an assistant manager to
the manager.
He has a degree in sports and health administration and appears to be
charismatic, so the CEO opted to promote him to manager.
After 5 months as the manager, enrollment memberships at the fitness club
declined even when the operations of the club were going well.
Ray asked Larry for advice on how to increase enrollment memberships,
and Larry responded that he had to figure it out himself as it is not his
responsibility.
The Root Cause:
The root cause of Ray not being able to increase enrollment numbers is
because he does not have experience in doing so. He has a degree in sports
and health administration which does not help with marketing. His club has
been marketing itself in the same way for the 5 months that he has been the
manager which clearly is not working. Plus, his CEO won’t even point him in
the right direction of what to do to boost enrollment.
Solutions:
Ray needs to either research on how to better market his club or discuss
with his staff members on what ideas they may have. He can also potentially
get in contact with managers of other Modern Fitness clubs to see what has
worked best for them. The advertisement methods that they have been
using are low budget so they have other options they could use such as
getting billboards which would reach a larger audience.
Advantages:
The advantages of having a boss that “empowers” you to improve your
business is that it gives you a challenge. Ray knows what he needs to do, so
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he will have to try multiple things to figure out what is going to work best.
This will make him a stronger leader and will be more respected by his staff
as they can see he wants the club to succeed.
Disadvantages:
The disadvantages of having a boss that doesn’t want to help you is that it
can be frustrating. As he has no experience in marketing, it creates a
stressful situation because he may not know what to do next. If he fails, the
club fails. This could lead to him giving up and quitting from his position.
Final Suggestions:
I would suggest the following:
Ray needs to start researching on what he can do to increase enrollment at
his club. He can also reach out to his staff and managers of other Modern
Fitness Clubs for other ideas.
As he has money to spend on advertising, he needs to figure out options that
will reach a wide audience such as a billboard.
Questions:
1.How effective is Larry’s approach to empowering Ray to boost
enrollment?
It seemed very ineffective. He did not sound like he had confidence in
Ray. He just said “do what you need to do” (DuBrin, 2016). It is a good
thing that Larry trusts that Ray can turn it in, but he did not provide
ample information to Ray as to how to succeed. He is distancing
himself when he still needs to be a leader.
2. Which political tactic or tactics do you recommend Ray use to
deal effectively with his empowering boss?
I would recommend Ray be courteous and flattery. He can mention
how much knowledge Larry has in the marketing aspect. Ray needs to
remain respectful and not demand for help when it does not seem like
Larry wants to give it.
3. What might Larry do to help Ray boost enrollment, within the
limits of empowerment?
Larry can introduce Ray to power contacts to see if they can help with
the marketing or to gain more customers. The more contacts he has,
the more help he is going to be able to find especially when it comes to
meeting new business people.
DuBrin, A.J. (2016). The nature and importance of leadership.
Leadership: Research
2. Carlisha Russell posted Jan 30, 2019 7:53 PM
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Key Issues:
Brenda is the director of claims processing in a business process outsourcing company
(DuBrin, 2013). She has been told that her leadership is satisfactory. Brenda’s idea of
reaching her employees was to sending encouraging tweets to them through twitter.
Contributory Factors:
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The outsourcing company specializes in taking care of the payroll and benefits administration
for small and mid-size companies (DuBrin, 2013).
Brenda’s manager, the CEO, has told Brenda that her leadership skills are satisfactory, but it
would be better if she had a bigger impact on the employees in her area of responsibility
(DuBrin, 2013).
The CEO advised Brenda to “Touch their lives more; be a bigger influence,” he also told her she
can figure out how to make the connection with the employees.
Brenda was thinking of a way to have a bigger impact on her direct employees as well as other
members of the company.
Brenda began a Twitter campaign, to send encouraging tweets.
Brenda believed that this would develop the positive relationship over night that would take
days and hours to do.
The Root Cause:
The CEO of the company has told Brenda that she needs to improve her leadership
skills. The CEO has told her to touch the employee’s lives, but there were no further
instructions. Brenda began using tweeter to send encouraging tweets to her direct
employees and other various employees in the company. A lot of employees in that
Brenda was targeting had tweeter accounts, so she began to send her tweets. One
employee was in favor of the tweets, but another did not like it so much.
Solution:
Brenda should reconsider and actually try to get to personally know the people she is
working with. It is not very impactful to send random tweets to people that barely know
you. Brenda needs to take her time and get to know the employees, so that if they are
ever asked do they have a relationship with their director their response can be
positive. She will have a better impact with face to face interaction, this is more genuine
than sitting at a computer or on a phone sending a message.
Advantages:
The CEO is giving Brenda the opportunity to better her leadership. The CEO has left it up
to Brenda how she will reach the employees. Brenda decided to use social media to her
advantage. One employee liked the encouraging tweets.
Disadvantages:
Brenda was tasked with making an impact on the employee’s lives. Using social media is
an indirect tool to try and make a positive impact; there is no guarantee that the
employees are actually reading her tweets.
Final Suggestions:
I would suggest the following:
1. That Brenda have face to face interactions with her employees and not bombard them with
tweets that probably will not have an effect on them.
2. Brenda needs to be genuine in her efforts and not making these connects because she was told
to, but because she actually wants too.
Questions:
1. What impact do you think Brenda’s tweeting will have on her leadership effectiveness?
None or very minimal. Using social media does not show how much of a leader
you are, but hands on training and getting to know the personnel to learn how to
help them, could ultimately improve her leadership skills.
1. What do you think of the political effectiveness of sending the same tweet to several workers?
Sending the same tweet can prevent anyone from thinking Brenda is showing
favoritism to one person over the other. This will actually save Brenda some time
when on the various amounts of people, by sending the same one to the same
work group.
1. What suggestions might you offer Brenda for making even more effective use of Twitter as a
leadership tool?
If Brenda is going to use tweeter, she needs to be specific with her tweets and
who she is directing them to. For example, if her administrative assistant does
something positive, then Brenda should highlight that moment in a tweet. Give
the employees positive praise for others to see a job well done.
References
DuBrin, A. J. (2013). Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills (7th Edition). Mason: South
Western, Cengage Learning.
3. posts
Antoinette Rucker posted Jan 31, 2019 12:44 AM
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Key Issues:
Brenda is a director of claims processing taking care of payroll issues in an outsourced
company. Her manager the CEO tells her she is a satisfactory leader but that she should
touch the lives of here employees more and that she should be a bigger influence. The
CEO doesn’t really care about the particulars just that she gets it done. Brenda’s idea of
being a bigger influence was to send out empowerment Tweets to some of the
employees. Some are receptive and enjoy her Tweets others think they could live
without them.
Contributory Factors:
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Brenda boss doesn’t think she is doing as well as she could be by leading her employees from the
front.
Brenda is sure at first on what tactics to use to accomplish her goal, but then she has an aha moment
and decides to use Twitter to launch her empowerment campaign.
Some of her employees enjoy her tweets, others think that maybe she is posting on twitter too
much, or just don’t like this style of leadership.
Brenda didn’t quite grasp what her CEO meant to be a bigger influence.
The Root Cause:
The root cause is Brenda has lost touch with her employees, and she isn’t for sure how to
empower or motivate them. She isn’t leading and guiding them she has been taking a
nonchalant stance at the leadership portion of her job. She is not reaching her full
audience of employees by sending empowering messages. She doesn’t know how to
switch her leadership style or tailor it to fit individual employees.
Advantages:
Brenda has captivated some of her audience by tweet, which is working great for them
now all she has to do is build a rapport with those employees, and she will gain their
trust and respect. She implemented a change in her style now all she has to do is keep
heading in that direction to fully grasp those employee’s motivation.
Disadvantages:
The disadvantages Brenda faces is she isn’t reaching all of her audience, some she is
turning off to her new style of leadership. She is adapting but not with the needs of the
employees in front, she has no clue what motivates them to come in every day and not
quit. Some of her employees, she is looing because they do not like her leadership
style. She is not reaching them because she doesn’t know her employees as well as she
thought she did.
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Solutions
Brenda needs to continue to lead her employees by example, guiding others to step up into other
leadership positions, just because she starts empowering her employees does not mean she
should stop guiding them.
She needs to know her audience when sending out the tweets, tailor the messages to fit individuals
since she doesn’t have time to do face to face meetings constantly.
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For those that don’t seem to respond well to the tweets she needs to get to know those employees
and try and figure out what motivates them. Flatter them in a way they will feel as if you’re only
complimenting them.
Whatever means she uses to empower the employees whether it be tweets, cards, face to face
meetings she should limit them.
Questions:
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What impact do you think Brenda’s tweeting will have on her leadership effectiveness?
I believe that some may like that she is trying to reach out to them through social media,
it shows that she can be a versatile leader, also that she cares enough to utilize this
method to relate to the employees.
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What do you think of the political effectiveness of sending the same tweet to several workers?
I think it loses its value when you don’t personalize the message you’re trying to convey. In order to
compliment someone, you should make it sensible and directed at that person. It makes the person
seem insincere and that they couldn’t take the time out of their day to get to know you to tell them
what makes them special.
What suggestions might you offer Brenda for making even more effective use of Twitter as a
leadership tool?
I believe she should have other lead employees to send out messages to empower other employees.
Also, she shouldn’t post on a daily basis to every account, because then it becomes overwhelming
and people will not want to see them. I think they will get tired of always seeing the messages and
think she isn’t sincere with her employees, and that she isn’t genuine.
Reference:
DuBrin, A. J. (2013). The nature and importance of leadership. Leadership and
Management in Criminal Justice (Custom Version 7e ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
4. Alexandra Devries posted Jan 30, 2019 8:11 PM
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Key Issues:
Steve was just named CEO of Mall World which owns 5 malls throughout the
United States and Canada. He was given 2 years to improve occupancy rates
in the mall caused by an increase in consumer online shopping. He talked to
managers throughout the malls and most of them are confident that
consumers will return to the malls as time passes.
Contributory Factors:
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Steve was a marketing manager in a real estate development company right
before his promotion to CEO.
He spoke to 5 managers and tenants that he now leads and 4/5 are
confident consumers will return to the mall as it is more comfortable.
The lone store manager that he talked to told Steve it would be cheaper for
him to sell all online instead of having to pay rent.
Steve knows something has to change to help the managers realize that mall
usage has decreased, and the markets do not show anytime soon that this
will change.
The Root Cause:
The root cause of Steve believing there needs to be an attitude change is
because the managers he is leading are waiting for business to come back to
them. Steve was given 2 years to improve occupancy rates, and the market
does not appear to be shifting back to more mall usage instead of online
retail. Instead of waiting to see if consumers and businesses will return to
the mall, he has to get his managers on the same plan to work together to
improve the numbers.
Solutions:
Steve needs to come up with a plan in order to improve occupancy rates
which is correlated to consumer usage of the malls. If Steve is able to bring
in more businesses, it can increase consumers. He can also discuss running
sales or having trade shows in a general area in the mall that can help bring
consumers. Steve should either hold a video conference with all top
managers or contact them separately with what ideas they may have. I think
the best way to go about this is to show the numbers of mall usage and sale
numbers to emphasize that change needs to come soon.
Advantages:
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The advantages of Steve taking the initiative to change the way these
managers think is that change will come sooner. It is obvious in today’s
world that mall usage has decreased as it is easier for people to shop online.
With changing the mind set sooner, he could help the malls gain more
businesses and consumers within the 2 years that he has. Also, everyone
will be on the same page regardless if it is someone from the top
management team or a manager at the mall.
Disadvantages:
The disadvantages of Steve trying to change the mindset of the managers
that he leads is that he could be perceived as unaware and arrogant. He has
only been the CEO for 2 weeks, and he is already trying to change what
people think who have been in the business for years. This could cause
distrust among management and inconsistency in the way that Steve and
the managers are acting.
Final suggestions:
I would suggest the following:
Steve needs to research the numbers on mall usage and show management
why there needs to be a change instead of waiting for consumers to start
shopping at malls again and for businesses to rent spaces.
He and his top management team need to work together to come up with
ideas on how to bring more businesses to the malls which would likely
result in more consumers shopping at malls.
Questions:
In what way does this case suggest that a culture change might be
necessary at Mall World?
The managers who do not work in the actual stores are denying the
change involved with consumers shopping online. They are not
worried about the loss of businesses and are content with waiting
until business picks back up. They seem unaware of the number of
businesses lost and ultimately the number of people who have lost
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jobs because they don’t find it necessary to change their tactics at this
point. Their overall attitude needs to be adjusted because they are not
concerned with what ultimately could be the elimination of malls.
What steps might Steve take to influence his managers that they need
to worry more about the future of Mall World, as well as taking action
steps to improve occupancy rates?
As I do not feel it would be beneficial to take an emotional response to the
managers, Steve would benefit from showing the managers actual data of
the decrease in consumers. The more occupancies they have, the more
consumers it will bring to the mall, so Steve and the managers need to
market the mall to attract more people and give them a reason to come to
the mall through different events held there.
Which specific influence tactics do you recommend Steve use with his
managers?
I recommend Steve consult with his managers to see what ideas they
may have to help improve business when they get on board. I think
most importantly he has to use rational persuasion and explain to the
managers with factual evidence why things need to change. He can
also be a hands-on leader and work with the managers to help the
malls succeed.
DuBrin, A.J. (2016). The nature and importance of leadership.
Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills (8th Edition).
Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
5. posts
Glennda McNeil posted Jan 31, 2019 1:40 PM
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Key Issues:
The director of sales for United events, that is a company that organizes events for other
companies such as trade shows and exhibitions. Maya is an unethical manager that acts
as most managers out to increase their own personal self-worth. Maya has no problems
of or with falsely influencing her sales representative staff to get the desired results that
she wants.
Contributory Factors:
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Maya has or appears not to have a conscience or moral aptitude.
Maya deliberately and blatantly gives her staff “false hope” to motivate them to do whatever she
wants them to do. She tells them half-truths that are believable.
Maya also has no problem with “blackmailing” her staff to do whatever she wants them to do,
despite the costs to them personally.
The Root Cause:
The root cause of Maya’s deplorable behavior is because no one sees her for what she
truly is. The staff and most clients regard Maya as sharp and charming, instead of as
sneaky and cunning. Maya has no one that will stand up to her, partly because the
company has been doing so well the last few years. Despite the organizing of events
becoming too much to handle in-house any longer. No one wants the company to do a
360-degree turnaround.
Solutions:
Maya needs to be called out on her questio…
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