Contents

Chapter 2: Trait Approach..................................................................................................4

Case 2.1 - Q3: In what ways are the weaknesses of the trait approach highlighted in

this case?................................................................................................................................... 4

Case 2.2 - Q3: Would Carol be a leader in other business contexts?.............................5

Case 2.3 - Q2: Could it be that the retention problem raised by upper management is

unrelated to Pat's recruitment criteria?.....................................................................................5

Chapter 3: Skills Approach................................................................................................. 6

Case 3.1 - Q3: The skills model describes three important competencies for leaders:

problem-solving skills, social judgment skills, and knowledge. If you were to coach Dr. Wood

using this model, what competencies would you address with him? What changes would you

suggest that he make in his leadership?....................................................................................6

Case 3.3 - Q2: From a skills perspective, how would you describe the three managers:

Kelly, Danielle, and Patrick? What does each of them need to do to improve his/her skills?....7

Chapter 4: Behavioral Approach........................................................................................7

Case 4.1 – Q1: From the behavioral perspective, how would you describe Mark’s

leadership?................................................................................................................................ 8

Case 4.2 – Q2: Why does her [Susan’s] leadership behavior create such a pronounced

reaction from her employees?...................................................................................................8

 2

Case 4.3 – Q3: Would you or would you not like to work for Douglas?..........................9

Chapter 5: Situational Approach........................................................................................9

Case 5.1 – Q2: If you were Bruce, would you act the same towards each of the three

managers?............................................................................................................................... 10

Case 5.2 – Q3: From a leadership perspective, what is Jim doing wrong?...................11
 3

Homework 1: Approaches

Chapter 2: Trait Approach

Case 2.1 - Q3: In what ways are the weaknesses of the trait approach highlighted in this

case?

The traits approach puts the intrinsic characteristics of the person as central to the

definition of the leader, meaning there are several major limitations:

- The approach may imply that people can not learn to become leaders but should

have the traits of the leader innate to them; this makes leadership a sort of privilege,

cutting the road to leadership roles to people who may not fit into the box of what

traits are defined as “leader traits” ;

- The list of qualities / traits is highly subjective and volatile; it has been changing

dramatically throughout the history since it was invented;

- The approach makes a leader central to the definition of leadership, somehow

underestimating the situational context and implications.

Should Sandra has to make her choice of the director based on traits approach, first, she

would have been lost as to list against which to judge the candidates. Secondly, using the 5

generic traits of a leader (Intelligence, Self confidence, Sociability, Integrity, Determination), she

would have had hard time ranking candidates as all of them would have probably ended up with

the same score and she would end up making choice based on the subjective criteria.
 4

Case 2.2 - Q3: Would Carol be a leader in other business contexts?

It’s impossible to not to observe from the case, that Carol personality traits were a

perfect match for the business context in which she happened to find herself after the death of

her husband. She showed commitment by spending time to understand the

business/competitive environment of her company; she preserved good spirit and high degree

of composure while going through difficult personal health situations; she exhibit business

acumen, which allowed her business to grow consistently and remained a good boss for her

employees throughout the period of company expansion and afterward.

Those are very helpful traits which came in handy when Carol had to take over the role

of the business owner. It is to some extent a speculation to try to guess if she would have been

as successful in a different context. Trying to remain objective, I tend to think that Carol

personality would have been helpful to her in becoming a leader in rather different situations

and business contexts. Other things being equal, Carol seems to come across as a person with

rather transferrable leadership potential. The exception, where it would have not been as

straightforward could be domains, which require some highly specific knowledge, which cant be

acquired quickly, e.g. military commander / space navigation chief of research / etc.

Case 2.3 - Q2: Could it be that the retention problem raised by upper management is

unrelated to Pat's recruitment criteria?

The short answer tot his question is “Yes, it can very well be that the retention problem

raised by upper management is unrelated to Pat's recruitment criteria”. From personal

experience, I can say that even most brilliant people with all skills matching the job may leave
 5

due to reasons external to the people themselves e.g. toxic environment, micromanagement

from bosses, inadequate or non-equitable pay / work load, etc. It can be argued that person

with a “correct” set of traits would have enough emotional intelligence to overcome those

reasons. However, since keeping oneself in the environment which is not fitting oneself comes

at cost (mental/emotional/etc.). While some people would stay and tolerate, others will make

their own cost / benefit analysis and decide if they are better off leaving somewhere else.

Additionally, the reasons for non-retention could be as trivial as finding a better paying

job, a more interesting job, a job with better commute or more interesting tasks and can go

until infinity.

Chapter 3: Skills Approach

Case 3.1 - Q3: The skills model describes three important competencies for leaders:

problem-solving skills, social judgment skills, and knowledge. If you were to coach Dr. Wood

using this model, what competencies would you address with him? What changes would you

suggest that he make in his leadership?

In the case 3.1, it is obvious that Dr. Wood lacks people management skills, emotional

intelligence and ability to see the big picture in the organizational set up. It seems that he is very

successful as individual researcher and credited very positively by the colleagues. However, in

the setting where he need to drive the team to success, through times of uncertainties and

difficulties (e.g. extended timelines, exceeded budgets, etc.), he fails to identify the core reasons

of the issues, lacks tact to communicate with the team in an effective manner and fails to

recognize the true efforts of the team members.

 6

If I were to give advice to Dr. Woods, it would be all three competencies: problem-

solving, social judgment, and knowledge, as they seem to be of an equal weight and importance

in this specific case and I would not be able to dissect one which is more important than

another in this specific case.

Case 3.3 - Q2: From a skills perspective, how would you describe the three managers:

Kelly, Danielle, and Patrick? What does each of them need to do to improve his/her skills?

While it is evident from the use case that all of the Andy’s managers are “breathing” the

place and are sincerely devoted to their work in the restaurants, each one of them has a very

specific skills missing. In case of Kelly and Patrick, they are not good with dealing with people.

Being very apt in their main domains, they are both not effective to deal with different types of

people, lacking empathy and emotional intelligence. Danielle, on the other hand is not very

good with numbers.

The skills approach perspective suggests that it is most important for Kelly and Patrick to

work on social judgement skills, which will help them understand their clients/counterparts

better and reduce conflict. Whereas, Danielle, needs to work on her ability to work with

numbers which has to do with overall technical abilities, rather than leadership skills.

Chapter 4: Behavioral Approach

 7

Case 4.1 – Q1: From the behavioral perspective, how would you describe Mark’s

leadership?

From behavioral perspective, Mark’s leadership style evolved from authority-compliance

management to team management. This was dictated by the circumstances he would find

himself at different stages.

When he started he had to achieve result and re-design the processes to make them

more efficient. This required a “strong” hand of the manager who can give clear and

straightforward instructions, follow up on their implementation and correct actions if needed.

Once the processes were re-designed and team got accustomed to the new normal and

became effective, he had to change the hat and adjust his leadership style. The circumstances

no longer required transformative / revolutionary actions. He had to maintain the good

performance of the team and ensure its sustainability along the time. This is best achieved

through constant loop of feedback with the team, who are the drivers of making sure the

processes stick and are executed in good quality, due to commitment and engagement of the

staff.

Case 4.2 – Q2: Why does her [Susan’s] leadership behavior create such a pronounced

reaction from her employees?

It is difficult to judge from the limited information that is available in the case, but it

seems that while being strongly committed to her business (which deserves a huge degree of

respect), she expects the same level of commitment from her employees at a non-stop pace.
 8

While being able to motivate people to exceed expectations is probably a skills important for

each leader, the leaders should be cognizant of the fact that:

- People can not run at 120% speed all the time;

- If the leader wants to have personnel as committed to the business as she is: 1) they

should either be adequately remunerated for the extra efforts 2) or be driven by the

higher aim to which they can relate.

My suspicion is that Susan just wants her employees to be as committed as she is while

they will not be benefitting form the store success to the degree that they perceive adequate.

Leaders need to be aware that it is not enough to simply “inspire” people, but they need to

have the adequate stake in the results that their extra effort will drive. If this is not the case,

people will soon be demotivated and feel “exploited”.

Case 4.3 – Q3: Would you or would you not like to work for Douglas?

Douglas seems to be a seasoned professional with leadership experience behind his

back, which helped him while maintain the legitimacy of a boss, create more human relations

with the team. As a personal reflection, I think he is a theoretical example of a good leader, who

combines professional judgement with high emotional intelligence, combining it to create

stimulating environment for the employees.

While from personal experience, I have not met many leaders / managers combining the

above, I think person can name themselves lucky working for such a boss.

Chapter 5: Situational Approach

 9

Case 5.1 – Q2: If you were Bruce, would you act the same towards each of the three

managers?

The 3 managers are definitely struggling their own battles while having their definitive

strength and would need different approaches from Bruce:

- Rick is the most self-sufficient of the 3 managers: he is equally capable technically

and highly motivated. His skills and experience allow him to possibly exceed

expectations, act independently and come up with valuable ideas and business plans

for expansion/growth. He does not need close supervision or guidance and

motivation. Bruce can delegate to Rick in his domain and be sure about deliverables.

- Beth on the other hand seems to be a generalist sales person with no specific

knowledge in plastics industry and requires upskilling to be successful in her role.

While her motivation is high, she needs specific subject matter coaching as she is

new to the company and industry. Bruce should employ the Directing leadership

style with this manager.

- Steve on the other hand, possess all technical knowledge acquired through first hand

experience but lacks confidence and requires Supporting leadership style: he is able

to perform in his subject matter but in order to cope with managerial responsibilities

he would need a mentor who could guide him through difficult situations and keep

the spirit and confidence high.

 10

Case 5.2 – Q3: From a leadership perspective, what is Jim doing wrong?

It is difficult to judge what exactly Jim was doing wrong from leadership perspective as in

his role of the trainer, he might not need to be a leader. As a professional, I would not allow

myself (and I do not know many people) who would disregard an important and value adding

training in case the presenter does not have leadership skills. This is a questions of ethics,

culture and company values. I would rather think that the results of the poll were not

representative and managers felt that in the end the training did not cover their needs. The

resort for the presenter in such situation is to try to engage the public by presenting the content

which is valuable. In the absence of content, the leadership tricks would not be effective in

maintaining audience without formal authority.