In reading our case study, “AstroTech Fuel Systems”; the protagonist Jim McGee is pitted primarily against George Phalen who is the fuel system department president. George is a pressure leader who pits staff against each other in general meetings, starts rumors to foment chaos and generally creates conflict in order to make himself seen as the leader who fixes the major issues to impress his bosses. These examples demonstrate George Phalen is a coercive leader who accomplishes tasks by fear of negative consequences (Lester & Parnell, 2006). Our antagonist George derives his power and ability to create conflict by bureaucratic factors and using incompatible performance criteria to confuse main issues in a department to his benefit. Jim is seen
While working for the department, it became very apparent that the practices and management style of the Department Director significantly affected the culture and daily activities of the individual sections under his leadership. First, he would set objectives and standards for the individual sections. These objectives usually looked good on paper but were often unrealistic when applied to daily operations. These lofty ideals, set as goals to middle management, seemed overwhelming and out of touch with the reality of hands on field operations. As a result, middle management would frequently choose to either change or completely disregard the given directives. This disconnect in the chain of command would often cause confusion and inconsistencies at the operations level. Additionally, lack of follow-up meant the Department Director assumed his set objectives were being carried out while lower level employees remained uninformed.
System I refers to the "exploitive, authoritative organization" (Likert 1961). Organizations of this type use fear tactics to exert control through hierarchical
Patrick Lencioni is an American writer, who focuses on writing books particularly in relation to business and team management. He is best known for ‘The Five Dysfunctions of a Team’, an allegory following the journey of DecisionTech’s new CEO, Katheryn Peterson. In this tale, Lencioni revels the basics of teamwork by creating a fictional business, in which is struggling to grow as a company, due to lack of commitment by its employees. The company fails to accept responsibilities and to come to any agreements, ultimately, resulting a plummeting disposition. Furthermore, throughout the fable, the five dysfunctions of a team become more evident, in which are, absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment avoidance of accountability and
Richard Scrushy’s management style was one that fostered intimidation and fear amongst his employees. The weekly Monday morning meetings were often called Monday morning beatings when the actual budget numbers did not meet the forecasted expectations. “Every Monday morning he grilled his division chiefs on the profits in their areas of responsibility and publicly berated any subordinate who failed to meet his expectations” (Solieri, Felo & Hodowanitz, 2008, p. 342).
In taking command of an organization, the commander needs to understand how the entire organization works; the synergistic effect of all its parts. Unlike the staff officer who may focus on the part of a problem relevant to his/her function and the efficiency of his/her section, the commander must have a holistic perception of the issue. The commander’s thinking must now shift more focus to the conceptual level of
“The employees were complaining for months and somehow the situation escalated to become hostile” Said the assistant Joe Haley. An organization as an entity, a whole, resembles a precise piece of machinery, because there are so many components need to function at the same time in order to make the machine work. As long as one part begins to malfunction, it will eventually influence other parts and create a vicious Domino effect, which damages the entire system quickly if not repaired
The purposes of this case study are (1) to list outward manifestation that indicate that organizational results could be improved and (2) explain leadership theory, organization behavior theory, and all the personal and structural sources of conflict evident at the Brewster-Seaview Landscaping Company.
than to illustrate effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. Copyright 2010 by the University
This case was prepared by Associate Professor Marc L. Lipson. It was written as a basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. Copyright 2010 by the University of Virginia Darden School Foundation, Charlottesville, VA. All rights reserved. To order copies, send an e-mail to sales@dardenbusinesspublishing.com. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the permission of the Darden School Foundation.
1. The main Organizational Behavior problem in “The Overhead Reduction Task Force” case is in creating a leading an effective team, specifically “Office of the President” team. Williams is fretting nervously and rightly so. Our take on the situation is that Dixon just “threw him under the bus”, by putting him in charge of the team and leaving for much needed two weeks vacations after being on the job for one week.
* A correct and appropriate description is given of two or more issue that will influence the choice of leadership styles or behaviours in workplace situations although the description may be limited and the links to workplace situations may be more understood than clear (criteria for a pass on this question)
In the case of “Thomas Green: power, office politics, and a career in Crisis”, it describes the dilemma of Thomas Green who works in a company called Dynamic Display. Thomas was recruited as an account executive, and then five months later, he was promoted as a Senior Market Specialist directly by the President Shannon McDonald. Thomas’s boss Frank Davis hadn’t expected to choose Green as the new senior market specialist, and he was very dissatisfied with Green’s work style and performance three months after the promotion. After being informed that Frank Davis had emailed McDonald about his concerns about Green’s performance, Green was getting really worried about his situation and not sure how to explain his perspective to
Time is a virtue and power struggles can cause misuse of time because employees are looking for ways to support their personal agendas creating a lack of productivity or effectiveness. “Empire-building, ego trips, favoritism, poor judgment, personal conflicts, demanding, complaining, and poor teamwork are often the outcome that may not be ideal for the economic benefit of an organization” (Daft, Murphy & Willmott 2010, p. 536). Overall conflict will assist in optimizing the organizational effectiveness. The conflict within the organization streamlines innovative thinking as employees look for new ways to prove their stance on an agenda. Conflict that is mediated builds a higher level of trust within organizational leaders as employees are better guided through advice and communication.
The sources of the conflict can be isolated. Keep the discussion focused on the people, principallyRamrod, and examine what he is doing wrong; this approach makes the later analysis of power moredramatic.The attitudes and behavior of Ramrod Stockwell cause the problem. Although he is competent, he causesconflict within his own function and other functions. In his own function he fails to delegate authorityand keeps the reins of power in his own hands. He has a centralized management style and does not shareinformation, which makes it impossible for subordinates to provide salespeople with the information theyneed. He does not follow the chain of command; he goes to people only when he needs them. Violatinglines of authority reduces the authority of his managers and also leaves them uninformed.His attitudes affect relationships with other functions, especially sales, because he also does not allowsubordinates to share any but routine information. Because of the centralization of authority in production, subordinates do not possess information. Only Rob Bronson, the vice president of
Executives of government agencies are in competition with other departments, and use specific strategies in the process of competing, for “turf”.