Management: Demographic Leadership

1774 Words4 Pages

Introduction: John Terrill, an experienced professional with a unique approach to managing, was brought into to DGL International to correct the productivity issues evident in the technical services division. As a leader, his approach would require professionalism, as well as an alternative method of management to restore the lacking work ethic of the engineers. Through investigative research into well-defined leadership styles, behaviours and power types, the following case study questions are discussed below. Using Paul Hershey and Ken Blanchard’s situational leadership theory, I compare the autocratic with the democratic approaches to leadership, as well as discuss the four styles of leading: telling, selling, participative or delegating. I also address the type of power Terrill appears to possess over his followers and compare multiple options. Though Terrill proved to be a successful development to the company’s management team, the repercussions and advantages of alternative approaches are also addressed in conjunction with Robert House’s path-goal theory. Q1. With supportive research, one could consider John Terrill’s leadership style to be a combination of democratic consultative and participative. Robbins, DeCenzo, Coulter & Woods explain that democratic leaders ‘tend to involve employees in decision making, delegates authority, encourages participation…uses feedback’ (2011 p. 297). The authors further elaborate on the two subcategories of demographic leadership, which are consultative and participative. When Terrill was appointed to manage the technical services division of DGL International, he actively addressed the issues with the employees he managed. Reflecting his democratic approach, he consulted with them abou... ... middle of paper ... ...et, M, Dobbins, G, Rush, M & Russell, J 1995, ‘Expert power, referent power, and charisma: Toward the resolution of a theoretical debate’, Journal of Business and Psychology, vol. 10, no. 2, pp.178-179 Lindskold, S, Banoma, T, Schlenker, B & Tedeschi, J 1972, ‘Factors affecting the effectiveness of reward power’, Psychonomic Science, Springer-Verlag, vol. 26, no, 2, pp. 68-70 Robbins, S, DeCenzo, D, Coulter, M & Woods, M 2011, Management: The Essentials, Pearson Australia, NSW, Australia, 1st Edition Tannenbaum, R & Schmidt, W 1973, ‘How to choose a leadership pattern’, Harvard Business Review (p. 298 of Robbins et al Management: The Essentials) Willer, R, Youngreen, R, Troyer, L & Lovaglia, M.J 2012, ‘How Do the Powerful Attain Status? The Roots of Legitimate Power Inequalities’, Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 355-367

Open Document