Abstract

This case centers on Admiral Kimmel, the commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet, whom was a major center of contact during the summer of 1941. Admiral Kimmel’s assignment was to train key personnel and supply basic equipment during this threat of war [time]. It was also Admiral Kimmel’s responsibility to communicate with Washington, D.C. to stay abreast on the up to-the –minute details about the war with Japan. Throughout this excerpt, we will analyze a few of Admiral Kimmel’s actions towards his duties as a leader. The intent of this paper is to denote the leadership and management functions of Admiral Kimmel as they were presented in case. After specifying various management and leadership functions, the task is to list and discuss these functions and evaluate the leadership failures and recommendations that could improve his role as a leader.

As previously stated, Admiral Kimmel was the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet. His responsibility was to ensure that troops were prepared and that Pearl Harbor was protected. As days began He was also instructed to “execute appropriate defensive deployment” preparatory to carrying out the naval war plan (Whetten and Cameron, 1998). Our text tells us that management functions consist of planning and budgeting, planning and staffing, and controlling and problem solving. Planning and budgeting entails establishing detailed steps and timetables for establishing needed results. Organizing and staffing establishes structure for a plan; staffing that structure with individuals and delegating responsibility to carry out that structure. Lastly, controlling and problem solving consists of monitoring results vs. the plan, identifying deviations, then planning and organizing to carry out the problems. Admiral Kimmel exemplified, and shall I say was supposed to exemplify, each of these duties as a manager.