Case Analysis: Zelte USA
By
Kimberley Coleman
Strayer University
BUS 520
Critique Meindle’s management and leadership styles.
Meindle’s approach to management resembles a hierarchal structure, with orders coming down from the top with very little upward communication. He didn’t pay much attention to individual personalities. Maintaining tight control over all company operations was the way Meindle managed Zelte. He refused to allow other sales representatives to contact the company’s largest customers. Meindle also meddled in the day to day operational activities of the company. For example, Meindle signed every purchase order, instead of letting the purchase manager sign for it. He reviewed every piece of mail that
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The American subordinates felt technical incompetence. Meindle paid less attention to individual personalities. According to Daniel Workman, analyst of Germany’s management style, “they resist change. German managers have a strong aversion to risk and a superiority complex”. This compels to Germans to maintain tight control of key management positions.
What alternatives do the four managers have to solve the dilemma they face? • Tom Williams – Finance manager, who is tired of fighting with his boss. Doesn’t speak German, never traveled to Germany. “Just live with it”. Doesn’t want to deal with making a decision, or ruffle any feathers. Tends to ignore what is going on and do nothing. • Lloyd Forrest - Production manager, who wants to provide good service to the customer and make sure that the customers are satisfied. Lloyd appears to be one who sees the overall big picture. He may be able to point out to Meindle the mutual benefits of working together and compromising. • Bob Holson – Sales manager, whose alternative option may lead to quitting the company. He is not enthusiastic to how the company is being run. His approach to this situation should be minimized discussion or expression of feelings or subjective elements unless Meindle appears to be open to this perspective. Doesn’t speak German. Visit Germany briefly. • Dan Offerman- Youngest member of the Zelte management team, who
Following the Second World War, Germany was rebuilt out of practically nothing into one of the richest countries of the world. This well-known transformation is known as the "Wirtschaftswunder" (wonder of economics). Yet in the recent reunification of West and East Germany, German leadership has ignored crucial lessons from this successful period of transformation. Three problems highlight this claim:
Germany is country shaped by many instances of disorder and chaos throughout its existence and especially in the 20th century. During these chaotic times Germans came to realize that the only way to prevent disorder and chaos was Ordnung or order. This philosophy of Ordnung is fundamentally different than the culture in the United States in which the people are trusted to do the right things rather than being forced by a set of written and unwritten rules that regulate social behavior. There are three significant differences between American culture and German culture: rules and regulations, the bureaucracy, and categorization. These differences help explain why German and American culture are so different.
This dissertation will discuss Angela Merkel’s Leadership style and ethics during the Euro crisis. It will also compare Angela Merkel’s leadership style to servant leadership style. It will also describe how servant leadership may or may not change the outcomes of the Euro crisis. In the closure of the dissertation, I will discuss my own leadership philosophy.
This dissertation will discuss Angela Merkel’s Leadership style and ethics during the Euro crisis. It will also compare Angela Merkel’s leadership style to servant leadership style. It will also describe how servant leadership may or may not change the outcomes of the Euro crisis. In the closure of the dissertation, I will discuss my own leadership philosophy.
The problems arise mainly because the CEO of the Spanish company made his decisions of expansion in Germany on a blue-eyed approach. The idea occur to him when meeting German tourists in Spain that were relax and happy without taking into account that the East Germans were not allowed to travel so far and there are important differences between the mentality of Western and Eastern Germany.
In reflecting on my one specific leadership style is difficult because my leadership style sometimes changes depending upon the particular employee I am leading, the situations I am faced with and what I am trying to accomplish. Being the second in command of a small police agency with only twenty-two sworn officers, as well as six non-sworn employees, they all have small differences from one another. These employee differences vary widely from generational, skill sets, needs, wants and personal motivations. One particular leadership style may work well with one employee I am trying to get to complete a specific task while that leadership style may cause another employee to resist or shut down. I believe one of the true characteristics of a strong leader is the ability to recognize and appreciate the differences between my subordinates and then lead them based upon the style that they will best respond to in order to succeed.
As it began, our century drew to a close, with Germany once again the economic powerhouse and political hub of Europe. What is remarkable is how quickly this happened, how unbidden and unanticipated: the toppling of the Berlin Wall in November 1989; the reunification a year later; the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War in late December 1991; a resurgent impetus to West European integration in 1992; and NATO enlargement, which was consecrated in April 1999. Unquestionably, this chain of events has profoundly affected Germany’s situation over the past decades. For the first time since the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in 1949 and the painstaking process of
“Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others.” John Maxwell. Not everyone is equipped to be a leader. Great leaders have the ability to establish a set direction and principles to guide their companies in an efficient way. It is believed that certain people possess traits that make them good leaders and researcher focus in personality, social, physical, or intellectual qualities that would identify them as leaders from the rest of the people. A few ideas have been developed over the years in the effort of define leadership. One of this is the Fiedler contingency model and Hersey and Blanchard’s Situation Theory. One of the situations that comes to mind is the story found in the Bible about Joshua when he was selected to spy the land of Canaan, and return to report on what was found, the land flowed with milk and honey. While others may only see problems before it true leaders can see possibilities and endure the opposition until they see an open door.
Unemployment was widespread and a whole generation of young Germans was left hopeless and without direction. For many Germans during these terrible times, mere survival was a challenge. This wretched condition is apparent in Heinrich Hauser’s description of Germany’s unemployed who lined the highways, homeless and destitute, with no place to go. As he describes it, “unskilled young people, for the most part… had been unable to find a place for themselves in any city or town in Germany, and… had never had a job and never expected to have one.” Germany had been forced to her knees.
As The Economist (September 28th 2013) says, Angela Merkel won a landslide victory and became the chancellor of Germany for the third time. The crisis gave us a hard time and most big European countries dumped their leaders during this period. However, Angela Merkel again proved to be a leader that most people follow and admire. Is it purely because she does things right for her people? Or does it rather spark from her personality, including her behavioral, communication skills or influential authority? This paper will elaborate ideas on what makes Germany’s chancellor such a powerful leader and by using psychological theories it will lead the reader to defining the leadership style Ms. Merkel exercises.
In this case, we have really two different points of view: in one side, there is Philip Anderson, the Phoenix branch manager of Stuart & Co., who manages a team with his ways, his idea, his experience but the results do not reach the targets fixed by the firm. In the other side, there is the direction of Stuart & Co., which has opposite ideas to Philip Anderson.
Leadership is a concept most people feel informed enough to discuss, but that few are truly educated sufficiently to comment on. Therefore, it is instructive to consider the leadership styles of people with very different approaches both to better understand the diversity underlying leadership, as well as to appreciate the effective and less effective strategies that underlie different leadership outcomes. For that reason, this essay will consider the styles of two leaders who are less visible in this highly contentious presidential election season: Jill Stein (the Green Party nominee) and Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate. The leadership styles of both are very different, yet they are aligned in the sense that both are outsider candidates struggling to gain momentum from a disaffected electorate. This essay begins with a theoretical discussion of leadership more generally and then turns to the two leaders as case studies, comparing and contrasting them and drawing conclusions about how they both work within the same public sphere and for putatively similar ends (i.e., gaining votes).
This paper is a critique of preceptor leadership methods. I will describe my current preceptor’s leadership style, giving an example of an observed valuable leadership strategy and why I found it to be successful. Shadowed by an example of an observed unsuccessful leadership strategy, how I responded, and a recommended strategy for the situation described. Ending with the type of leader I aspire to be in the future and my final thought regarding leadership.
My parents divorced when I was 11 and my mother left for Europe to be with her family. She definitely moved to USA when I was 16. I was really close to her while growing up so after she left I did not really have a female figure to look up too or to share my worries with. I grew up in the city and I was going to a private school; being the kid without a mother at home made me feel different but that was not something you could talk about in my dad’s house. He is a proud man and he put that pride in us so we had to keep our heads up all the time. Still, I had people talking on my back. I started keeping to myself from there and doing everything on my own without asking anyone help because that is how my dad wanted us to be: educated, successful, proud and independent so we wouldn’t have to deal with failure or rejection. I realize today that as people, we will always need someone’s help at some point in our life, and pride is not everything. It is hard letting go of old habits, but I am trying to be more of a people person because we can also learn from failure and rejection. They are all part of life.
* John Becker, who has only so far worked at American locations, was posted to a foreign country. He may not be fully knowledgeable about the local culture.