The Gene One Managerial Strategy - Essay Example

The corporate culture at Gene One is not appropriate for it to become a publicly traded company because many of the employees are more worried about the pure research aspect of the work than about delivering a deadline. The employees do not want to be accountable to many stakeholder groups such as stockholders, business partners, and lenders. There are currently problems with the composition of the board of directors of Gene One that makes the company ineligible to comply with the Sarbanes Oxley Act. The employees of employees care a lot about each other and feared massive employee turnover once the company became public.

Trust was an element that Don had which hurt his judgments during the scenario. He was so trustful of his team that it blinded him as far as being able to evaluate the individual weaknesses of the different players. Don was also a bit scared of admitting the truth that the current leadership team needed help to complete the transformational process. The competence of several of the team players was questionable. For example, the firm's CFO seemed to lack basic knowledge about Sarbanes Oxley regulations.

The fact that several of the team members did not embrace the IPO plan is a business risk that Don has to attend to. The fact that information was leaked out to the press about plans means that public expectation is a factor to consider. If the press finds out that there are internal frictions among the executive team about the firm’s plan this could cause a public relations disaster. I agree with you that Don and his team have communication problems. At the end of the scenario, Don was questioning his leadership skills and whether he was the right person to lead the transformational process. Bringing in some outside help for the transitional period might not be such a bad idea.

In your response, you mentioned that delegation was a key issue. I believe that delegation per se was not that much of a problem. Delegating works when there are competent players behind the scenes. At Gene One the executive team was a bit incompetent. The financial person did not much about the Sarbanes, the HR manager was intimidated by the transformational process, and the technology manager was hesitant to accept the faster working environment typical of the 21st century. The long-term goals of the organization are going to be hard to achieve due to the internal leadership problems the company faces. Don has to be willing to make tough decisions regarding changes to the executive managerial staff.

You are correct in your assertion that Don is more of a task-oriented manager than a people person. In the scenario, there were plenty of circumstances that showed that there were communication problems among the team. Don never intervened to resolve these problems in the past. His approach to conflicts was to use avoidance instead of tackling the problems head-on. His ability to complete and focus on tasks has helped Don expand the company during the past eight years. Sometimes get too close to an individual they let their personal feelings affect their business judgment. The CEO’s inability to discipline his managerial staff created a hostile working environment in which there is a lack of respect among colleagues.

To evaluate the leadership ability of a leader one must follow their career and evaluate what impact the leader had on the minds of his or her followers. A good leader can motivate others to achieve a higher level of performance. Leaders also demonstrate confidence and are knowledgeable about many academic areas. An important trait that leaders must possess is good verbal and written communication and interpersonal skills. Another trait that leaders have is the ability to persuade others to comply with the desired task.