F4 Practice Case Study Report

Name: Zeng Jingfang (Natasha)

No. 22925

Lecturers’ names: Wai Sim Chan, Geraldine Malone

Course name: English Preparation Program

Due date: Tuesday, Week 6

Word count: 921

Introduction

This case is about Linda White, who was promoted to the position of supervisor in a publishing and editing company named Orion. She is a hard-working staff member with a lot of experience and she knows exactly what has to be done in the job. Unfortunately, Linda lacks the ability of communicating effectively with her subordinates. She does not give relevant instructions to inexperienced staff and rarely listens to their ideas, nor does she respond to employees’ requests for guidance. Under these circumstances, Linda’s team is demoralized and inefficient so they do not finish their work in order to meet deadlines. As a result, there is a high staff turnover in her department. This case study report will examine the cause of complaints about Linda White and problems within her department will be identified and analyzed. Three possible solutions will be proposed and an evaluation of these will be presented. Finally, a recommendation will be made about the best solution to this problem.

Problem Identification and Analysis

An analysis of the case shows that these symptoms are attributed to Linda’s management or leadership style. She uses the “delegating style” to give responsibility and authority to employees (Thornton 2004, p. 80). When it comes to “the delegating leadership style”, managers should choose appropriate person who has enough knowledge or skills to carry out tasks (Thornton 2004, p. 80). Whereas, Linda’s workers do not have much experience and she rarely gives guidance to them, so they just know what they should do but they never know how to do it. Furthermore, she does not listen to opinions