Critical Management in Peter and Joseph - Coursework Example

? The Organization- Case Study and Section # of From the evidence in the case study discuss and analyze the leadership styles of both Peter and Joseph. Leadership, in traditional literal terminology is considered to be a critical management skill; it is the ability in a person to motivate a group of people to move towards a common goal (About.com, 2011). In contemporary times, it is considered to be an asset which can take an organization from scratch to boom, since it provides a direction towards which all must marshal in unity to attain the organizational aims and goals, hence it is important to first understand the different styles of leadership which a person can adapt to fulfill the role of a leader. In this case study, the father son duo have diametrically opposite leadership styles, wherein the father ‘Peter’ believes in an extremely friendly business environment marked by ‘Participative’ leadership, the son ‘Joseph’ is seen to portray the typical character of an ‘Autocratic’ leader. It is stated that Peter is a man of charisma and has a dynamic personality; some scholars like Rowe and Guerrero argue that charisma is a necessary condition for leadership (Rowe and Guerrero, 2011, 260). A charismatic leader can ensure that the workforce will follow in his footsteps, and consider him to be right, instead of doubting in the effectiveness of the leader. With such personality traits Peter could have chosen to be an autocratic leader who leads from the front and gives orders, such that they would be followed since the staff believes in him and is devoted and Peter trusts them. However, he chose to be a democratic leader or in other words, a participative leader (Appel and Schmid, 2003, 22). The name itself suggests that the characteristics of such a leader do not revolve around strictness and authoritative rule, but allows for participation and a democratic way of decision making. On the other polar side is the leadership style adapted by the ‘bright’ but not ‘brilliant’ Joseph. He is categorized as having adapted the authoritative or autocratic leadership style which is recognized as being a one man show, since the leader does not allow for participation in decision making, delegation of duties is not carried out, there is lack of trust of the leader in the staff and vice versa, thus the opposite of democratic leadership. Leadership is cited as one of the crucial reasons behind the decision of managerial staff to leave a job (Hogan, 2007, 38), thus the fact that under Peter’s leadership almost all employees have been retained by the organization for at least 10 years is a substantial proof of his effective leadership, and that he is welcomed by his staff. When this factor is considered for Joseph’s leadership, it was observed that the employees were not happy, which can be figured out from the statement by Mr. Spike who told Joseph that he ‘just couldn’t work in this climate’, hence showing that employee turnover would be high as even the most loyal and senior manager wants to quit the job under Joseph’s leadership. Furthermore, Peter does not practice a laissez-faire leadership style or a rigid leadership style, since his delegation of duty and decision making is coupled with regular inspections of the efficiency and quality of work and the organization on the whole. He believes in motivation through praise, and thus has made it a regular practice to praise good work, and simultaneously pointing out flaws and inefficiency in any work done by the staff, but since he is so accommodating and open to his staff, it automatically leads to a welcoming response and the staff does not mind if he points out flaws, but on the contrary regards his comments as constructive criticism. While, on the other side, autocratic leaders such as Joseph, believe in meeting rigid targets, and do not allow for any suggestions, it is their personal style of motivation, however apart from the positive aspect of speeding up the process, it can also lead to de-motivation in case the targets are not set according to the SMART standards, such that the goal is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely (Bacon, 1999, 147). It must be understood that business is like a partnership wherein all must go hand in hand in order to achieve the objectives, and in order for a partnership to function it must make use of open communication strategy. Open communication allows for the development of trust since it helps the workforce to address problems and resolve issues through mutual arbitration, rather than being introvert about the problem and developing grudges (Tompkins, 2003, 130). While on the contrary, the most important characteristic of an autocratic leader is that he does not approve of open communication, such that orders flow from the leader to the subordinates, and the leader does not leave any room for amendment, therefore when feedback is discouraged it leads to technical difficulties in the business which the leader overlooks in order to achieve larger objectives (Zwemer, 2006, 244). In this case, Joseph ordered the usage of low quality raw material and remained persistent on his command, while it created major technical breakdown in the entire system, and he was still unwilling to accept his mistake and resort to the technical staff’s ideas. It is believed that there is no room for autocratic leadership in contemporary times, however it can be argued that there are certain situations where it is acceptable, such that if the leader is charismatic and has the capability of impressing people and making them his followers in accordance with their own will and not by force, such an autocratic leadership would in fact lead to the development of trust in the leader, strong bondage between staff, and movement in the same direction. However, with the personality of Joseph, and the unfriendly and rude attitude, it is unlikely to sustain the profitable working environment at Plastics Heritage which was created under the leadership of Peter. 2. Analyze and evaluate how the management styles of Peter and Joseph have affected team performance at Heritage Plastics. The leader of any organization is directly responsible for the kind of working environment prevalent in the organization, since it is the management style which marks the rules and regulations which are followed by the workforce; therefore it is necessary to analyze the team performance of any business in light of the management style being followed at a given period of time. In this case, the team performance can be analyzed in two different periods, one under Peter Heritage’s leadership and his democratic leadership style which allows for a friendly working environment and the other under Joseph Heritage’s leadership and his highly autocratic leadership style which maintains a strict and unfriendly working atmosphere. Peter Heritage was a head who believed in his staff, therefore he did not believe in bossing them around and it is stated in the case that he rarely disciplined his staff, therefore portraying his level of trust. Such trust on part of the head motivates the workforce, as it creates a sense of responsibility in them and they feel more devoted towards their work (Godinez and Quinn, 2004). In order to meet the expectations of the head, the staff tries to put in maximum effort to perform efficiently the tasks which have been delegated to them. Furthermore, delegations come with an open communication rule therefore employees are not scared of approaching Peter in case any problem arises or if they misunderstood any duty, this leads to clarification on spot which is an important benefit of the two-way communication process (Business Article, 2010). As a result, lesser mistakes are committed and efficiency at workplace increases, thereby improving team performance. Peter has also maintained a friendly working atmosphere by not keeping an appointments system, which widens the gap between the employees and the head, therefore, the friendly nature of Peter has helped bridge gaps and uplift performance at work. In case any conflicts arise, Peter ensures that all issues are resolved at the earliest, he acts as a fair arbitrator and bring the conflicting parties in one room to resolve the issue, a healthy conversation leads to constructive outcome such that issues and problems are clarified, hence as there are no personal conflicts at work which last for a longer period of time due to Peter’s style of resolving managerial concerns, thus it improves performance at work significantly. Peter himself was devoted to work, such that when the new machine was being installed for the East African garden furniture order, Peter stood by the machine till the first few pieces were produced in order to make sure that quality was not being compromised and that the work was being done efficiently, such a management style and devoted hard work on part of the owner also instills a working spirit in the employees and they tend to follow in the footsteps of the leader and begin to trust him. This creates a devoted, healthy, friendly and hard working atmosphere wherein all proceed towards the achievement of a common goal, which is a successful and profitable business, which was attained before Peter left for the cruise and appointed Joseph in charge of the business. The management style of Joseph on the other hand is in extreme contradiction to that of his father’s. He is shown to be strict and does not approve of a friendly working environment. He does not believe in open door policy but keeps regular meetings which are time strict, such that employees are insulted in case they show up late, regardless of their seniority and post in the organization. Such an attitude leads to resentment, and the staff begins to dislike their head, they would not trust him and thus do not feel secure at the organization. Job security is one of the basic human needs according to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which is a popularly acclaimed motivation theory (Slater and Bremner, 2003, 57-58), in this case, under the management style of Joseph, this need is not met, furthermore the employees would not have the feeling of self esteem which they enjoyed previously with Peter, and thus it would bring down their morale, and hence affect the team performance on the whole. Joseph also believed in giving commands to the workforce, and disregards their opinion regarding any particular issue, he ignored the expertise of the staff pertaining to the technical issues which could arise as a consequence of his decisions, and marshaled with his low cost plans, which turned out to be a disaster for the organization at the end. The staff blamed Joseph for the insensitivity of decisions and thus did not allow trust to develop, since they considered Joseph to be rude, ignorant and not brilliant like his father. This automatically led to de-motivation in the workforce and thus brought down team performance on the whole, and instead of reducing costs of production, it reduced efficiency and increased extra maintenance costs, which harmed the profitability position of Heritage Plastics. Joseph was also less devoted to towards his work, as he did not go to sight to resolve issues but instead left it on the workforce to solve the problems and inform him when the crisis is over, and simultaneously placed order for a new BMW for himself, this shows that he was more concerned with his personal lifestyle than work, it also gives a wrong image to the workforce that the leader is not concerned with any chaos taking place at the organization but that he is more involved in attaining his personal benefits. It must be ensured that the management style being adapted should develop trust, harmony, devotion, motivation and a hard working friendly working environment, just the way Peter did, or else team performance would likely suffer. References About.com (2011) Leadership. [Accessed February 13th 2011] Business Article (2010) Importance of Effective Business Communication. [Accessed February 14th 2011] < http://www.ceoconsultant.com/business/importance-effective-business-communication/> Appel. G S and Schmid. T V (2003) Impact of Culture on the Style and Process of Management and Leadership in India. Germany. Druck and Bindung Slater. A J and Bremner. G (2003) An Introduction to Developmental Psychology. United Kingdom. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Tompkins. J A (2003) No Boundaries: Break through to supply chain excellence. Canada. Tompkins Press Zwemer. A J (2006) Basic Psychology for Nursing in India. India. B.I. Publications Pvt. Ltd. Godinez. J and Quinn. M (2004) ‘Employee Motivation: Benefits of a Committed Workforce’. [Accessed February 14th 2011] Bacon. T R (1999) Selling to Major Accounts: tools, techniques, and practical solutions for the sales manager. United States of America. AMACOM Rowe. W G and Guerrero. L (2011) Cases in Leadership. United States of America. Sage Publications Inc. Hogan. R (2007) Personality and the Fate of Organizations. United States of America. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Read More