Organisational Behaviour - Case Study Example

Case Study: Оrgаnisаtiоnаl Bеhаviоur Question 1: Describe and compare the leadership styles of Patricia and Philip. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each style, and under what circumstances would their styles be most appropriate? Patricia and Phillip employ different leadership styles in carrying out their responsibilities in their different capacities within the organisation. Whereas Philip is a transformational leader, Patricia is a transactional one. This means that Phillip’s leadership style is modelled upon the need to change the IT capacity of ServCorp in response to the changing environment. On the other hand, the leadership style used by Patricia is concerned with the need to gain the compliance of employees by use of rewards and punishment. Another difference between the leadership styles that are used by the two leaders is that whereas Phillip uses his charisma to enhance the process of bringing change in the IT department, Patricia relies on strict hierarchy and top-down flow of information in managing the entire organisation. Both styles have advantages and disadvantages. Transformational leadership presents benefits that are associated with enhanced team performance, clear communication throughout the entire organisation, and enhancing the commitment, performance and satisfaction of employees. Also, using transformational leadership enhances the levels of creativity in both the employees and the organisation as a whole. On the other hand, using transactional leadership presents many disadvantages within an organisation. For instance, by relying heavily on a strict hierarchical organisation structure with minimum communication, the style stifles creativity and lowers the level of output by employees within an organisation. Also, the fear of punishment among employees creates dissonance with the goals of the organisation as the employees seek to survive rather than achieve results. In addition, using transactional leadership may contribute to fundamental attribution errors within the organisation. This is a situation where the leader’s effect on the performance of the business is erroneously amplified. This normally happens at the expense of the self-image and morale of the staff, who feel isolated and out of the decision making framework. However, one advantage associated with transactional style of leadership is that it can be said to achieve immediate and effective results within an organisation. This is so achieved when the leader using this approach uses the legitimate source of power within the organisation to develop and maintain a goal-centred approach to work. On the other hand, transformational leadership is appropriate for organisations that are implementing large-scale changes to match the changes in their business environments – as is the case for ServCorp. Question 2 What does the case study tell you about the values of the group members and the types of conflict, communication styles, power and politics present among them? First, there is lack of cohesion between the members of the group. This is exemplified in the fact the members are less motivated to undertake the challenges presented by the tasks within the limited time frame. Also, they are less willing to share information across the entire team when working on the project. In addition, because of weak interpersonal bonds among the members of the team that is presented in the case study, there is a poor interpersonal relationship between them, leading too poor overall performance. Moreover, members of the group respond to different sources of power within the organisation in different ways. For instance, the charismatic personality exhibited by Phillip elicits respect and identification with members of the group. Also, members of the group respond to the coercive source of power which is exhibited by the fear of punishment from the top leadership. Second, there is a high value attached to the degree and nature of interdependence between the members of the group and the power holder. This is demonstrated in the case where many members of the group are rapidly affected by the actions of the leader. Also, although the group had depended much on the use of assertiveness as a means of getting influence, they are faced with a new means of influence under the leadership of Phillip. This means that the group has to respond to different types of influence such as coalition formation, silent power and persuasion. The group is therefore confronted with the need to gain power as a group when working on the major transformation project. Such an approach is accomplished through legitimisation of issues through meetings and pooling resources together in terms of different talents between the members. Three, members of the group have limited trust towards the leaders. This implies that the employees do not have sufficient positive expectations towards the leadership in times of handling important tasks. This means that members of the team lack both knowledge-based and identification-based trust in their interaction. Also, the case study reveals that the members have to adapt to a persuasive style of communication as employed by Phillip. The team is responding positively to the shift from power speech and task-oriented talks as practised under the leadership of Patricia, to the relationship-oriented talk as practised by Phillip. Read More