Leadership Development
Programme 2012
Post-Module 1 Assignment
Leadership Theory and
Practical Applications
Developing self and
others is about the
genuine desire to
learn new things and
develop within and
beyond your own role.
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Leadership Development Programme 2012
Post-Module 1 Assignment
Leadership Theory and Practical Appliocations
Contents
Section
Topic
Page
Section 1
Introduction
3
Section 2
Self-directed Teams
4
Section 3
Assignment Brief and Expectations
5
Annex A
Situational Leadership Case Study
6
Annex B
Trait Theory Case Study
7
Annex C
Transformational Leadership Case Study
9
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Introduction
First of all, we’d like to say a big ‘Thank You’ to everyone for the energy and enthusiasm you brought to our first
programme Module. We trust you found it an enjoyable and insightful experience.
You will recall that during Module 1 we explored together the Evolution of Leadership Theory.
In preparation for Module 2 of the programme, we would like to invite you to undertake some research into three specific
leadership theories and come to Module 2 prepared to make a short 20 minute presentation on your findings.
We would also like you to work on a case study relating to a particular leadership theory and answer a few questions.
To achieve this we’re going to ask you to work in three self-directed teams. Each team will focus on one particular
leadership theory and related case study.
The composition of these self-directed teams is shown in Section 2 of this document.
The assignment brief is described in detail in Section 3 of this document.
The case studies are contained in Annexes A, B and C of this document.
Please note, to facilitate whole group discussion on each presentation, we would ask everyone to familiarize
themselves with all three case studies.
Thank you in advance for your active participation in this assignment.
If you need any help, or have any questions, please contact Penny or David, or another member of your programme
team.
We wish you every success!
Penny Wallace and David Holmes
Programme Tutors
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Section 2: Self-directed Teams
To undertake this assignment we’re going to ask you to work in three
self-directed teams. Each team will focus on one particular leadership
theory and related case study.
As self-directed teams, how you work together, how tasks are
allocated, who may take the lead, how you will present your findings,
etc. is entirely your choice.
The composition of these teams is shown below.
Green Team
•
•
•
•
Claus
Frederike
Richard, and
Mathias
Post-Module 1 Assignment
Self-directed Learning
‘Self directed learning is a way of
creating a situation where learning is
owned by the individual and aligned with
organisational needs. Individuals take
responsibility for decisions about their
learning and work with others to achieve
it.’
You decide:
• How you will work together
The Green Team will focus on the Trait Theory of Leadership
• What process you will follow
Blue Team
• How much time you will allocate to
the assignment
•
Axel
Bob
Torsten, and
Christian
•
•
•
• Who may take the lead
• Who will do what tasks
• How you will present the outcomes
of your collective work
The Blue Team will focus on Situational Leadership
Yellow Team
•
•
•
•
Carsten
Antje
Hendrik, and
Tobias
The Yellow Team will focus on Transformational Leadership
Thank you
Penny and David
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Section 3: Assignment Brief and Expectations
During LDP Module 1 we explored together the Evolution of
Leadership Theory.
In preparation for Module 2 of the programme, we would like to invite
each self-directed learning team to undertake some research into a
specific leadership theory and come to Module 2 prepared to make a
short 20 minute presentation on your findings and case study outputs
– see below.
Post-Module 1 Assignment
Leadership Theory and
Practical Applications
Each group will focus on one particular
theory of leadership
Green Team will focus on the Trait Theory of Leadership
Blue Team will focus on Situational Leadership
Yellow Team will focus on Transformational Leadership
Green Team
Trait Theory of Leadership
Your mission is to explore the specific leadership theory assigned to
your team.
Please undertake your own research into this particular theory and
present an overview of your findings. Our expectation is for you to
expand on the brief overview given during Module 1.
Then please answer the following questions:
Blue Team
Situational Leadership
• How applicable is this particular theory of leadership applicable
to today’s workplace environment?
• What might be the value and benefits of following this approach
at GL?
Yellow Team
• What might be the challenges of following this approach at GL?
Transformational Leadership
• C an you identify a real situation where you could use it in your
respective leadership roles
Finally, we would also like you to work on a case study relating to this
particular leadership theory and answer a few questions. You will find
your specific case study in Annex A, B, or C of this document.
Case studies - please note:
To facilitate whole group discussion on
each presentation, everyone should
familiarise themselves with all three
case studies. Thank you.
Thank you.
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Leadership Theory and Practical Applications
ANNEX A
Case Study A: Trait Theory – Recruiting for the Bank
Pat Nelson is the assistant director of human resources in charge of recruitment for Central Bank, a large, full-service
banking institution. One of Pat's major responsibilities each spring is to visit as many college campuses as he can to
interview graduating seniors for credit analyst positions in the commercial lending area at Central Bank. Although the
number varies, he usually ends up hiring about 20 new people, most of whom come from the same schools, year after
year.
Pat has been doing recruitment for the bank for more than 10 years, and he enjoys it very much. However, for the
upcoming spring he is feeling increased pressure from management to be particularly discriminating about whom he
recommends hiring. Management is concerned about the retention rate at the bank because in recent years as many as
25% of the new hires have left. Departures after the first year have meant lost training dollars and strain on the staff that
remain. Although management understands that some new hires always leave, the executives are not
comfortable with the present rate, and they have begun to question the
recruitment and hiring procedures.
The bank wants to hire people who can be groomed for higher-level leadership positions. Although certain competencies
are required of entry-level credit analysts, the bank is equally interested in skills that will allow individuals to advance to
upper management positions as their careers progress.
In the recruitment process, Pat always looks for several characteristics.
First, applicants need to have strong interpersonal skills, they need to be confident, and they need to show poise and
initiative. Next, because banking involves fiduciary responsibilities, applicants need to have proper ethics, including a
strong sense of the importance of confidentiality. In addition, to do the work in the bank, they need to have strong
analytical and technical skills, and experience in working with computers. Last, applicants need to exhibit a good work
ethic, and they need to show commitment and a willingness to do their job even in difficult circumstances.
Pat is fairly certain that he has been selecting the right people to be leaders at Central Bank, yet upper management is
telling him to reassess his hiring criteria. Although he feels that he has been doing the right thing, he is starting to
question himself and his recruitment practices.
Questions
1. Based on ideas described in the trait approach, do you think Pat is looking for the right characteristics in the
people he hires?
2. Could it be that the retention problem raised by upper management is unrelated to Pat's recruitment criteria?
3. If you were Pat, would you change your approach to recruiting?
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Leadership Theory and Practical Applications
ANNEX B
Case Study B: Situational Leadership – What Style Do I Use?
Bruce Cannon is the owner of a 5-year-old small plastics company that employs about 20 people. The company consists
of three areas: engineering, sales, and production. For each of these areas, there is a single
manager.
Rick Nakano heads the engineering crew. He is a seasoned engineer and is the oldest employee in the company; he is
55 years old. Rick was hired because of his engineering ability and experience. Before joining the company, Rick worked
for 20 years as an engineer for Ford Motor Company. His co-workers perceive him as very competent, even-tempered,
and interested in the company.
Rick has been spending most of his time in recent weeks on developing a long-range plan for the company. His goal is
to develop a creative model for making decisions about future expenditures for materials, equipment, plant development,
and personnel. Rick feels good about the way upper management has reacted to the first drafts of his plans.
Beth Edwards heads the sales force, which is the smallest unit in the company. Beth is the most recent hire in the
company and has 15 years of sales experience in a different product area. Beth's peers see her as highly motivated but
not too knowledgeable about the company's products. Beth's goal is to increase the company's annual sales by 30%.
However, the first quarter sales figures indicate the rate of growth to be only 2%.
Although Beth has been upbeat since the day she arrived, in recent weeks there have been problems in her department.
Her sales staff talks about how little she knows about the plastics industry. In discussions about new products, Beth
often is confused. In addition, she has difficulty describing the company's capabilities to customers because she does
not understand fully how a plastics company of this type functions.
Steve Lynch is the manager of production and has been with the company since its inception. Steve started out with the
company just out of high school, working on the line, and moved up in the company as a result of his hard work. His goal
is to streamline production and decrease costs by 10%. He knows production backward and forward but is a bit
apprehensive about his new role as production manager.
In fact, Steve is afraid he might fail as manager. He does not know whether he is ready to have others depend on him
when he has always been the one depending on others. The owner, Bruce, has great faith in Steve and has had several
meetings with him to clarify his role and reassure him that he can do the work. He is certain that Steve will be an
outstanding production manager.
Bruce meets weekly with each of his managers to talk about how their group is fitting in with the overall company goals.
In his upcoming weekly series of meetings, he wants to discuss with them what new procedures they could implement
within their departments to improve their long-term performance. Bruce is wondering how he should approach each of
his managers.
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Questions
1. According to the basic assumptions of situational leadership, where would you place the three managers in
regard to levels of development in the Situational Leadership model?
2. If you were Bruce, would you act the same toward each of the three managers? What different approaches
would you adopt?
3. Which of his weekly meetings will be the hardest for you, and which will be the easiest? Why?
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ANNEX C
Leadership Theory and Practical Applications
Case Study C: Transformational Leadership – Her Vision of a Model
Research Centre
Rachel Adams began as a researcher at a large pharmaceutical company. After several years of observing how clinical
drug studies were conducted, she realized that there was a need and opportunity for a research centre not connected
with a specific pharmaceutical company. In collaboration with other researchers, she launched a new company that was
the first of its kind in the country. Within 5 years, Rachel had become president and
CEO of the Independent Centre for Clinical Research (ICCR). Under Rachel's leadership, ICCR has grown to a company
with revenues of $6 million and profits of $1 million. ICCR employs 100 full-time employees, most of whom are women.
Rachel wants ICCR to continue its pattern of formidable growth. Her vision for the company is to make it a model
research centre that will blend credible science with efficient and cost-effective clinical trials. To that end, the company,
which is situated in a large urban setting, maintains strong links to academia, industry, and the community.
Rachel and her style have a great deal to do with the success of ICCR. She is a freethinker who is always open to new
ideas, opportunities, and approaches. She is a positive person who enjoys the nuances of life, and she is not afraid to
take risks. Her optimistic approach has had a significant influence on the company's achievements and its organizational
climate.
People employed at ICCR claim they have never worked at a place that is so progressive and so positive in how it treats
its employees and customers. The women employees at ICCR feel particularly strongly about Rachel's leadership and
many of them use Rachel as a role model. It is not by accident that the majority (85%) of the people who work at
ICCR are women. Her support for women's concerns is evident in the type of drug studies the company selects to
conduct and in her service to national committees on women's health and research issues.
Within ICCR, Rachel has designed an on-site day-care program, flexitime scheduling for mothers with young children,
and a benefit package that gives full health coverage to part-time employees. At a time when most companies
are searching for ways to include more women in decision making, ICCR has women in established leadership positions
at all levels.
Although Rachel has been extremely effective at ICCR, the success of the company has resulted in many changes that
have affected Rachel's leadership at the company. Rapid growth of ICCR has required that Rachel spend a great deal of
time travelling throughout the country. Because of her excessive travel, Rachel has begun to feel distant from the day-today operations of ICCR. She has begun to feel as if she is losing her handle on what makes the company tick. For
example, although she used to give weekly pep talks to supervisors, she finds that she now gives just two formal
presentations a year. Rachel also complains of feeling estranged from employees at the company. At a recent directors'
meeting, she expressed frustration that people no longer called her by her first name, and others did not even
know who she was.
[continued on the next page]
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Growth at ICCR has also demanded that more planning and decision making be delegated to department heads. This
has been problematic for Rachel, particularly in the area of strategic planning. Rachel finds that the department heads
are beginning to shift the focus of ICCR in a direction that contradicts her ideal model of what the company should be
and what it is best at doing. Rachel built the company on the idea that ICCR would be a strong blend of credible science
and cost-effective clinical trials, and she does not want to give up that model. The directors, on the other hand, would
like to see ICCR become similar to a standard pharmaceutical company dedicated primarily to the research and
development of new drugs.
Questions
1. What is it about Rachel's leadership style that clearly suggests that she is engaged in transformational
leadership?
2. In what ways has the growth of ICCR had an impact on Rachel's leadership?
3. Given the problems Rachel is confronting as a result of the growth of the company, what could she do to reestablish herself as a transformational leader at ICCR?
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