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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
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My research provided an opportunity to review and identify different elements of leading from previous studies. As I begin my review, I find myself rediscovering essential qualities of successful leadership. The author provides a very interesting case study that depicts the importance of people skills, (Bennis, 2009). In order to be an effective leader you must be able to relate to others through open communication, (Bennis, 2009). A leader needs to be approachable and personable in their actions. The case study provided an example of a leader that lacked people skills. He had been mentored in an environment that was not conducive to team building, (Bennis, 2009). His leadership approach was to be direct and demanding centered on productivity
The theory is based on the premise that leader behaviors are learned and not inherent traits in a leader’s personality (Kreitner & Kinick, 2014). As an example, the manner in which the leader communicates the tasks that need to be done is a learned behavior compared to the vocal tone of the leader’s voice which is an inherent trait. Ohio State University had a team of researchers study the behaviors of leaders beginning in 1946 and continued for ten years. The team developed a Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire with 150 descriptive leadership processes and asked how often the leader performed the process utilizing a scale of always to never (Halpin, 1956). From the results the team identified that there were two elements of leader behavior, consideration and initiating structure (Kreitner & Kinick,
Robbins, S. P., & Coulter, M. (2009). Management (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
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Robbins, S.P., & Coulter, M. (2009). Management (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
OLLIER-MALATERRE, ARIANE; ROTHBARD, NANCY P.; BERG, JUSTIN M. Academy of Management Review (Oct2013), Vol. 38 Issue 4