Summary

Emerald Financing Corporation was founded to provide financing for its parent company, a major industrial firm producing a widely diversified array of products. Bill Joyner is the current area manager of Emerald and is responsible for the consumer financing department which primarily offers direct cash loans, usually second mortgages. The office has only been marginally productive in recent months and has experienced increasing problems. Due to his predecessors quick dismissal, there has been no real adjustment period for Bill in his new environment. He has been thrust into managing the daily activities of an unfamiliar office, staffed with employees unknown to him. The only real input and guiding force he has to assist him is his district manager, Mary Evans. Bill Joyner has been described as a job-centered leader. He is recently more concerned with performance rather than with his employees satisfaction. However, his immediate concern is a management trainee named Keith Roberts. Recently, Keith seems to be spending more and more time away from his desk due to various plausible reasons. When he is at work and at his desk, he sits idly much of the time, or discusses subjects other than business with his co workers. Nevertheless, his work is still completed each day, and its quality has not been visibly affected. Bill never outwardly expressed disapproval over Keiths conduct. He never had any private conversations with Keith to discuss the latters behavior. Bill has only generally mentioned the problems to the entire group during office meetings. One day, to everyones shock, Bill announced that Keith will no longer be working for Emerald following yet another of Keiths AWOLs. This pronouncement was followed by shock from Keiths fellow employees. Keith was wellliked and considered intelligent by his coworkers. They were convinced that Keith was terminated without due process and this instilled fear in them. In the succeeding days, although everyone works diligently and work gets completed by days end, the other employees were unhappy and tension was very palpable. Bill now has the task of adjusting to his new role as area manager and at the same time dealing with unhappy employees as well as overcoming their distrust.

Statement of the Problem Whether or not Bill should change his leadership style. Objectives

1) To evaluate the alternatives and provide alternative courses of action (ACAs) for Bill Joyner to address the problem 2) To identify the strengths and weaknesses of each ACA. 3) To propose the most feasible recommendation(s) for Bill Joyner to cope with his new job and unfamiliar employees.

Areas for Consideration (SWOT Analysis)

ENVIRONMENT 1. Customers 2. Suppliers 3. Competition 4. Labor management trainees

STRENGTHS

WEAKNESSES NONE NONE NONE bored and frustrated for not having enough work to occupy a full day yet still required to work late hours; not allowed to work on manaagement development programduring idle time

OPPORTUNITIES

THREATS

Keith Roberts

work still completed management trainee each day with no visible who spends more time reduction in quality; well- away from his desk and like and considered has missed hours of work intelligent by coworkers due to a series of excuses; when at his desk, sits idly most of the time or discusses subjects other than business with coworkers never seemed happy nor satisfied with their jobs; also appear to mistrust Bill Joyner after Keith's performance does not appear to be lessened but neither does it show improvement

dismissed for no apparent or clear reason

EFC employees

5. The Firm Bill Joyner

job-centered leader; new to the job although he met with each employee individually to review the latter's goals and objectives in line with the company's expectations, goal setting was completed in a very general sense increased absenteeism and turnover

no adjustment period when he assumed his new role as office manager; mre concerned with performance than with employee satisfaction

the office

only marginally productive in recent months and has experienced increasing problems; affected by the condition of the economy, with rising unemployment and a depressed housing market

Alternative Courses of Action (ACA s)

I.

Do not change leadership style but improve on communication Advantages: 1) Building up communication while maintaining job focus can increase productivity to significant levels 2) Reinforcing the formal environment Disadvantages: 1) Might increase instead of minimize the employees unhappiness 2) It does not necessarily follow that this will increase productivity since there are other factors to consider

II.

Bill Joyner may change his leadership approach from being job-centered to being more of a employee-centered one Advantages: 1) This will increase the employees positive attitude towards their job. 2) This will lessen the gap between Bill and his employees for a better working relationship 3) Increase the morale of the employees Disadvantages: 1) Bill Joyner might have to attend seminars about leadership that might lessen his time to work 2) Bill Joyner will have to adjust his way of communicating and interacting with the employees

III.

Employ a flexible leadership strategy that would be depend on the situation Advantages: 1) Bill can easily adapt to changing environments 2) Bridging the gap with employees 3) Increasing employee effort and productivity

Disadvantages: 1) A lot depends on the maturity level of the employees 2) Bill must also be open to change and adapting to change as needed 3) Risk of going overboard

Conclusion

We choose ACA # 3, to employ a flexible leadership strategy that would depend on the situation. This is in line with the Path-Goal Theory of Leadership where the primary activities of a leader are to make achievable and desirable rewards available to organization members who attain organizational goals and to clarify the kinds of behavior that must be performed to earn those rewards. The primary focus of the Path-Goal Theory of Leadership is on how leaders can increase employee effort and productivity by clarifying performance goals and the path to be taken to achieve those goals. In Bills case, he can build on the four primary types of behavior associated with the theory, namely: directive, supportive, participative and achievement behaviors, with special focus on directive and supportive behaviors.

Recommendations In line with the Path-Goal Theory of Leadership and the behaviors identified, we recommend the following: 1) Conduct one-on-one performance management evaluations for each employee wherein the goals and strategies employed will be aligned with that of the company. This would include performance agreements, development agreements, interim progress reviews, employee self-evaluation and supervisor performance evaluation. (directive behavior) 2) Schedule team building activities at least once a year in order to improve group cohesion. (participative behavior) 3) Encouraging employees to contribute by setting up a Suggestion Box where incentives will be handed out to the best suggestion improving or developing organizational capability and increasing performance quality for every quarter. (supportive behavior) 4) Introducing an annual incentive plan based on the performance of each employee. Factors that may be considered are the contents of the performance management evaluations and up to what extent the employee was able to comply with the goals and strategies proposed. (achievement behavior)

Bibliography Certo, S. C. (2000). Modern Management (Eighth Edition ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. http://www.stfrancis.edu/ba/ghkickul/stuwebs/btopics/works/fied.htm