MN 325-final test 1. The Vroom-Yetton Leadership Model—indentify and explain the five decision-making styles. Explain how three of the situational factors affect the degree of involvement by subordinates. The question will indicate which factors to explain and a general response is expected.
∙ Autocratic I (AI)—a manger solves a problem using the information that is already available
∙ Autocratic II (AII)—a manager obtains additional information from subordinates and then solves the problem
∙ Consultative I (CI)—a manager shares the problem with subordinate on an individual basis and obtain their ideas and suggestions. Again, the manager chooses a solution to the problem at hand
∙ Consultative II (CII)—a manger shares the problem with subordinates as a group. The final decision may or may not reflect subordinate input
∙ Group (G)—a manager meets with subordinates as a group. However, the manager acts as a chairperson who focuses on directs discussions, but does not impose his or her will on the group. True subordinates’ participation, in a democratic sense, is sought.
∙ Situational factors: o (A)—does the problem posses a quality requirement? o (B)—Do I have sufficient information to make a high-quality decision? o (C) –Is the problem structured? o (D)—Is acceptance of the decision by subordinates important for effective implementation? o (E)—If I were to make the decision by myself, am I reasonably certain that it would be accepted by my subordinates? o (F)—Do subordinates share the enterprise goals to be obtained in solving this problem? o (G)—is conflict among subordinates over preferred solutions likely?

2. From the three leaders cases—identify the dominant style or pattern of styles demonstrated by each leader. Discuss if they are using the most appropriate styles for their specific situation.
∙ Quality Circle Chair (QCC)—transformational leadership—the chairperson of the quality circle, chooses member at random from each department to be a part of the Quality Circle (QC), he doesn’t install any of his own ideas into the chosen members of the group, only when asked he gives his opinion, the group does not have deadlines, and when a presentation is in order, they practice it many times, as well as the whole group is present to give support, you are never alone, you always have the group to help you out. o For this situation, the leadership style the chairperson poses is fine, because he wants the group to grow and learn from each other. Build on each other’s work without the added pressure of a leader or deadlines.
∙ Airline Field Manager—Path-Goal Theory—the airline field manager is a leader that influences the satisfaction, motivation and performance of her group. o Directive—she gives specific task to the people below her, to keep the airlines moving, to reduce the number of delays, and also to keep their customers happy. o Supportive—she is friendly with the people she works with, but not buddies with them, because they are not her friends, they are her subordinates, she always works at the ticket counter, and is friendly with the customers, keeping them coming back to her airline next time they fly. o Participative—she works on the floor with her subordinates, she knows the tasks and issues they go through every day, and understand the delays that happen on the airlines. o Achievement-oriented—she sets goals for herself and her other co-workers, to keep the ticket lines and security lines moving to allow for less passenger related delays.
▪ She is using the best leadership style she can, because she has management above her and below her, she has to be stern in some cases as well friendly in others, she wears many hats in the management, so it is good that she is versatile.
∙ Heart Transplant Surgeon—transformational leader—the surgeon is the main person in charge but he still needs the rest of his team to complete the task of operating on a patient, and therefore he wants to create a calm and encouraging surgical area. He respects all of his team members, as well as his patients overall health. After each surgery, he discusses what can be changed and what can stay the same, if someone had a error in the operating room, he pulls them aside to tell them what they did was wrong, as well as, he encourages other people to point out his errors o Although this is a good method to keep the room calm, with such a serious procedure such as heart surgery, you want a surgeon that is more demanding, and doesn’t need someone else to point his errors, you want a surgeon that is confident in his work and his team members, and making everyone happy is not what the job is about, it’s about keeping the patient alive when in the operating room.

3. Describe the challenges faced by Jamie Escalante in the film, Stand And Deliver, and identify an example of each of the three dimensions of the transformational leadership from the clip shown in class
∙ Jamie Escalante in the film, Stand and Deliver faced many challenges: o Identifying with the students o Overcoming the situation of his co-workers o Working with students
∙ Three dimensions of the transformational leadership from the clip o Charismatic Behavior—instills pride, respect, vision of a better future
▪ He instills pride into them, by showing them that MATH came originally from the Mayans, which are their ancestors.
▪ Because Jamie Escalante wasn’t satisfied with the math program that Garfield High School had, he has first was going to teach them algebra. He thought that basic math (adding, subtracting..) was meant for people who work at fast food restaurants, but intelligent students.
▪ The movie later goes on, that he wants to teach them Calculus, and then take the AP test, therefore receiving college credit, this meant that the students had take intense summer course, to prepare for calculus their senior year of high school, and able to take the AP test in time. Jamie Escalante, saw the potential in the students. o Individualized consideration—respects the individual needs of each person
▪ Jamie Escalante, saw that some of the students were never going to succeed, so why waste his time on them, but the other ones, he went out of his way to help them out, to encourage them more, to become the intelligent students he knew they were,
▪ for example, the one student, he gave him three extra books, one for home, one for his locker and one for the classroom, so none of his friends thought he was smart, and he didn’t have to carry the book around, or have an excuse why he didn’t do his homework.
▪ Another example, is when the smart girl that sat in the front of the classroom, told him that this was her last day of class, because her father wants her to quit schools, and work in his restaurant, So that night Jamie and his wife went to that restaurant, spoke with her family and explained the value of education, and how her learning math with improve his restaurant in the long run. o Intellectual Stimulation—encourages new ideas, learning, rethinking of old ideas
▪ Jamie Escalante encouraged the students to think about the math problems from their own lives. Use example that make sense to them.
▪ He also encouraged the staff to set higher standards for the students, to not continue what they’re doing, because it is obviously not working.
▪ The one teacher said, “you can’t teach logarithms to illiterates”

4. Discuss the meaning of Level 5 leadership (from OB reader), explain why it is important, and give one example of highly successful level 5 leader.
∙ Level 5 leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company. Ambition is for the institution first, not themselves
∙ Builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will, modest, willful, humble, fearless
∙ Level 5 leaders embody all five levels of pyramid o Level 1: highly capable individual o Level 2: contributing team member o Level 3: competent manager o Level 4: effective leader o Level 5: Level 5 executive
∙ Level 5 leadership transforms companies from good to great during pivotal transitional years
∙ Level 5 leaders set up their successors for even greater success and are frantically driven with a need to produce sustained results, attribute success to others and mistakes on themselves
Example: Darwin Smith, CEO of Kimberly-Clark (paper company)
∙ Turned Kimberly-Clark into leading paper-based consumer products company in the world
∙ Generated cumulative stock returns 4.1 times the general market
∙ Humble and modest, diagnosed with cancer two months after becoming CEO
∙ Decided to sell the mills and put proceeds in consumer business: ended up owning Scott Paper and beating Procter & Gamble in six of eight product categories 5. Describe the most successful Words-In-Sentences companies using the categories and comparison companies discussed in class. Explain to someone with no knowledge of Org Behavior and Mgmt, WHY this type of structure was appropriate for this task.
∙ The most successful words-in-sentences companies were mechanistic in that everyone had specific tasks but also organic in that there was no hierarchy
∙ The most successful were like unit production because everything was unique, including the words and sentences
∙ Successful company compared to W.L. Gore because there was no manager or hierarchy (“unmanagement”) works in teams 6. Define what is meant by the term “complex adaptive systems” (from OB reader) and discuss how Steve Miller used this concept to guide his effort to improve the performance of Shell’s worldwide oil products business.
∙ Must meet four tests to be a complex adaptive system o Must be comprised of many agents acting in parallel o Continuously shuffles these building blocks and generates multiple levels of organization and structure o Subject to the second law of thermodynamics, exhibiting entropy and winding down over time unless replenished with energy, vulnerable to death o Exhibit a capacity for pattern recognition and employ this to anticipate the future and learn to recognize the anticipation of seasonal change
∙ Science of complexity has yielded four bedrock principles o Complex adaptive systems are at risk when in equilibrium o Complex adaptive systems exhibit the capacity of self-organization and emergent complexity o Complex adaptive systems tend to move toward the edge of chaos when provoked by a complex task o Complex adaptive systems are characterized by weak cause-and-effect linkages
∙ Steve Miller, a member of Shell’s committee of managing directors o Disturbing equilibrium at Shell: wanted to involve the front lines of the organization so reallocated calendar to work with front-line personnel. Directives were issued by the top and driven through the organization. Solution: cut through organization’s layers and barriers by putting senior management in direct contact with people at the grassroots level, foster strategic initiatives, create a new sense of urgency, overwhelm the old order o Self-organization and emergent complexity: design for emergence to generate informal connections between headquarters and the field (agents acting in parallel). Build on principles of complexity, fractal-like properties of a business model by Columbia University Larry Seldon, and a second fractal-like process, the action labs. Teams were brought in from operating companies for retailing boot camps o Edge of chaos: multipronged design that intensified stress on all members of the Shell system. First, Miller and top team taught and coached country teams then teams were sent back to collect real data for three periods of 60 days: created personal connection and changed dynamics of operations o Experimentation, rapid learning, and seizing the momentum of success is better approach for Shell