Gilberto Garcia
OMIS 442
Chapter 3: Alcoa Case

1. From a strategic management standpoint, why do you think that corporate management at Alcoa delayed taking action for five years as the plant continued to lose money and deteriorate in other operational measures?
I think a lot of key things might have played a role with this decision. Corporate management wanted to see what could be done and introduced new management to the plant. There were a lot of issues to be resolved such as high rates of serious injuries, poor quality control, inadequate leadership, and low morale. It would take time to implement change and establish a new organizational culture in order to turn the company around. I think they wanted to give the new management a chance to see what could be done, which would require a lot of patience. Slowly but surely, the plant would start to reduce injuries, improve morale, cut costs, and the new leadership model would begin to have full effect. Once there was success, that’s when corporate management could decide what would be done with the plant and chose whether it should continue to operate and maintain that level of success, or close down and liquidate everything.

2. What type of leadership style did Simonic seem to follow? Does it fit any of the leadership theories that were developed in this chapter?
I think Simonic followed the Transformational Leadership style. He had a lot of charismatic characteristics and was inspirational. Other management even said that he had a dynamic personality and was very charismatic. Simonic held strategic meetings with employees and made clear, yet supportive statements. He wanted to align all parts, clarify who would be making what decisions, and explain how decisions could be influenced while also communicating why decisions are made. He basically set goals for the plant and was supportive with lower