Question
Read the following article from the required reading assignment:
Preston, G., Moon, J., Simon, R., Allen, S., & Kossi, E. (2015). The relevance of emotional intelligence in project
leadership. Journal of Information Technology and Economic Development, 6(1), 16-40.
After reading the article, analyze the following scenarios, and choose one to discuss in your case study paper:
Scenario 1: You are an office manager who has recently moved into a new department. It comes to your attention that there is a member of senior management who has been falsifying expense reports for himself and approving falsified reports for his subordinates, resulting in over-payments to employees.
Based on your preferred leadership style, what would be the best way to handle this situation?
What are some effective practices that you would use for leading people and business processes in this situation?
In this situation, what is your role in the decision-making processes that serve to establish an organizational climate oriented to meet business goals?
Scenario 2: You are a newly hired department director, brought on board to help turn around a struggling department. Themembers of this department are highly educated and are taking steps to improve the professional development of department members. Despite these efforts, they feel they are underappreciated and lack a voice in the direction that the department is moving. You have leadership experience in a variety of industries, but you have never worked in this specific field.
Based on your preferred leadership style, how would you proceed in attempting to align the goals of the organization with the goals of the department? (The goals are actually the same for the organization and the department, but the two groups have different concepts on how to achieve them.)
What are some effective practices that you would use for leading people and business processes in this situation?
In this situation, what is your role in the decision-making processes that serve to establish an organizational climate oriented to meet business goals?
Scenario 3: As a manager, you have two employees who have a difficult time working together. While nothing specifically unprofessional has been done by either one of them, other team members have expressed concern that the differences between them are causing tension and some other team members are having difficulty performing their work. Some have even gone so far as to say that the situation is causing a hostile work environment.
Based on your preferred leadership style, how would you handle this situation?
What are some effective practices that you would use for leading people and business processes in this situation?
In this situation, what is your role in the decision-making processes that serve to establish an organizational
climate oriented to meet business goals?
Sample paper
LEADERSHIP
Scenario 1
Given the situation above, autocratic leadership would suit the place and circumstances. Autocratic leadership widely known as authoritarian leadership is characterized by personal control over all the decisions and the minor and small input from all sectors and levels of an organization. Authoritative leaders make their decisions based on their ideas, judgment, and opinions. Through this leadership style, I would gather information regarding the falsification of documents and make an independent decision regarding the fate of this employee. With this style, I can act quickly and accordingly since employees are already used to being on a short leash, and I do not need an opinion from anyone (Rast III, 2013). When the activities of a company or organizations become questionable, the leaders should take full responsibility and take charge of his workforce. Thus, consultation or collaboration with members of the workforce, especially the suspect is unlikely to yield the much-needed results. As a leader, I need to issue directives to the suspect after I have the full facts regarding the way forward.
The ideal and appropriate way to handle such a situation is to exchange information and data with the chief financial officer, or rather the person in charge of finances and explaining the situation. After contacting the person in charge of the affected docket, I would then go to my immediate supervisor and explain the criminal activities of that person before eventually going to the CEO to discuss the activities of the suspect. However, I would not approach him until I have obtained and gathered all the necessary information and data to support my accusations. Given the fact that he has been falsifying accounts of the company which can have a greater influence on the revenue and profits of the company, I need concrete evidence before confronting him. By exchanging information with the supervisor will give me a chance to note and understand his behavioral pattern and I identify if this is the first time that this employee has been caught on the wrong side. This information is important for making final conclusions.
As an operations manager, my main role in the department and organization, in general, is to ensure that all members of the workforce are aware of what is expected of them and to ensure that they are comfortable on their workstation. To understand the needs and wants of the employees who help to make their lives comfortable requires the leaders to understand their opinion, views and behavioral patterns. As a result, my first role in the attempt to establish an organizational climate oriented to meet business goals would be to understand the motivation behind the falsification for overpayment. By having these reasons and the exact number of the employee involved, would help me to come up with an ethical code of conduct to guide all the members of the workforce as they perform their daily chores. Moreover, I would constantly hold meetings with employees of all levels to remind them of the importance of honoring the code of conduct as well as observing rules and regulations put in place or them to improve workplace safety and create a conducive working climate (De Hoogh, 2015). Moreover, there is the need to remind them of the punishment that follows if an individual breaks the already set rules and regulations. However, it is also important to remind them of their importance to the organization and how the management is pleased with all their efforts.
References
De Hoogh, A. H. (2015). Diabolical dictators or capable commanders? An investigation of the differential effects of autocratic leadership on team performance. . The Leadership Quarterly, 26(5), , 687-701.
Rast III, D. E. (2013). Self-uncertainty and support for autocratic leadership. . Self and Identity, 12(6),, 635-649.
