Read the weekly assigned chapters and view the lectures/videos before beginning the assignment. Read the case study titled “Consolidated Product”, located at the end of Chapter 2, before starting this
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT: CASES FOR ANALYSIS
Consolidated Products
Consolidated Products is a medium-sized manufacturer of consumer products with nonunionized production workers. Ben Samuels was a plant manager for Consolidated Products for
10 years, and he was very well liked by the employees there. They were grateful for the fitness center he built for employees, and they enjoyed the social activities sponsored by the plant several times a year, including company picnics and holiday parties. He knew most of the workers by name, and he spent part of each day walking around the plant to visit with them and ask about their families or hobbies.
Ben believed that it was important to treat employees properly so they would have a sense of loyalty to the company. He tried to avoid any layoffs when production demand was slack, figuring that the company could not afford to lose skilled workers that are so difficult to replace. The workers knew that if they had a special problem, Ben would try to help them. For example, when someone was injured but wanted to continue working, Ben found another job in the plant that the person could do despite having a disability. Ben believed that if you treat people right, they would do a good job for you without close supervision or prodding. Ben applied the same principle to his supervisors, and he mostly left them alone to run their departments as they saw fit. He did not set objectives and standards for the plant, and he never asked the supervisors to develop plans for improving productivity and product quality.
Under Ben, the plant had the lowest turnover among the company’s five plants, but the sec- ond worst record for costs and production levels. When the company was acquired by another firm, Ben was asked to take early retirement, and Phil Jones was brought in to replace him.
Phil had a growing reputation as a manager who could get things done, and he quickly began making changes. Costs were cut by trimming a number of activities such as the fitness center at the plant, company picnics and parties, and the human relations training programs for supervisors. Phil believed that human relations training was a waste of time; if employees don’t want to do the work, get rid of them and find somebody else who does.
Supervisors were instructed to establish high performance standards for their departments and insist that people achieve them. A computer monitoring system was introduced so that the output of each worker could be checked closely against the standards. Phil told his supervisors to give any worker who had substandard performance one warning, and then if performance did not improve within two weeks to fire the person. Phil believed that workers don’t respect a supervisor who is weak and passive. When Phil observed a worker wasting time or making a mistake, he would reprimand the person right on the spot to set an example. Phil also checked closely on the performance of his supervisors. Demanding objectives were set for each department, and weekly meetings were held with each supervisor to review department performance. Finally, Phil insisted that supervisors check with him first before taking any significant actions that deviated from established plans and policies.
As another cost-cutting move, Phil reduced the frequency of equipment maintenance, which required machines to be idled when they could be productive. Since the machines had a good record of reliable operation, Phil believed that the current maintenance schedule was excessive and was cutting into production. Finally, when business was slow for one of the product lines, Phil laid off workers rather than finding something else for them to do.
By the end of Phil’s first year as plant manager, production costs were reduced by 20 per- cent and production output was up by 10 percent. However, three of his seven supervisors left to take other jobs, and turnover was also high among the machine operators. Some of the turnover was due to workers who were fired, but competent machine operators were also quitting, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to find any replacements for them. Finally, there was increasing talk of unionizing among the workers.56 (Daft, 20170101)
4-5b Problem-Solving Styles: Jungian Types
Another approach to cognitive differences grew out of the work of psychologist
Carl Jung. Jung believed that differences in individual behavior resulted from preferences in how we go about gathering and evaluating information for solving problems and making decisions.61 One of the most widely used tests in the United States, the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment, is one way of measuring how individuals differ in these areas.
millions of people around the world and can help individuals better understand themselves and others.
The MBTI instrument uses four different pairs of attributes to classify people in one of 16 different personality types:
1. Introversion versus extroversion: This dimension focuses on where people gain interpersonal strength and mental energy. Extroverts (E) gain energy from being around others and interacting with others, whereas introverts (I) gain energy by focusing on personal thoughts and feelings.
2. Sensing versus intuition: This identifies how a person absorbs information. Those with a sensing preference (S) gather and absorb information through the five senses, whereas intuitive people (N) rely on less direct perceptions. Intuitives, for example, focus more on patterns, relationships, and hunches than on direct perception of facts and details.
3. Thinking versus feeling: This dimension relates to how much consideration a person gives to emotions in making a decision. Feeling types (F) tend to rely more on their values and sense of what is right and wrong, and they consider how a decision will affect other people’s feelings. Thinking types (T) tend to rely more on logic and be very objective in decision making.
4. Judging versus perceiving: The judging versus perceiving dimension concerns an individual’s attitudes toward ambiguity and how quickly a person makes a decision. People with a judging preference like certainty and closure. They enjoy having goals and deadlines and tend to make decisions quickly based on available data. Perceiving people, on the other hand, enjoy ambiguity, dislike deadlines, and may change their minds several times before making a final decision. Perceiving types like to gather a large amount of data and information before making a decision.
The various combinations of these preferences result in 16 unique types. There are a number of exercises available in print and on the Internet that can help people determine their preferences according to the MBTI assessment. Individuals develop unique strengths and weaknesses as a result of their preferences for introversion versus extroversion, sensing versus intuition, thinking versus feeling, and judging versus perceiving. As with the whole brain approach, MBTI types should not be considered ingrained or unalterable. People’s awareness of their preferences, training, and life experiences can cause them to change their preferences over time.
Nearly 200 agencies of the U.S. government, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Department of Veterans Affairs, have been reported to use the MBTI instrument as part of their training programs. Brian Twillman of the EPA says at least a quarter of the agency’s 17,000 federal employees have taken the test, and that without it ‘‘there would be a lot of blind spots within the agency.” A primary value of the MBTI assessment is that it starts an important dialogue about how people interact with others.
At Hallmark Cards, top executives wanted to develop leaders who could see things from different perspectives, work together for everyone’s success, and fully engage and inspire both employees and customers. One approach to creating that new culture was using the MBTI to give managers greater self-awareness and insight into how their patterns of thought and behavior affected others. ‘‘We tend to place people into ‘files’ according to our perceptions of them, which are often skewed,’’ said Mary Beth Ebmeyer, HR manager for corporate development. By understanding different MBTI types, Hallmark leaders can flex their communication style as needed and connect more meaningfully with employees. In addition, being aware of their own MBTI type enables leaders to maximize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. Leaders should remember that each type can have positive and negative consequences for behavior.
There has been an increasing application of the MBTI assessment in leadership studies.65 These studies confirm that there is no ‘‘leader type,’’ and all 16 of the MBTI types can function effectively as leaders. As with the four quadrants of the whole brain model, leaders can learn to use their preferences and balance their approaches to best suit followers and the situation. However, research reveals some interesting, although tentative, findings. For example, although extroversion is often considered an important trait for a leader, leaders in the real world are about equally divided between extroverts and introverts. In regard to the sensing versus intuition dimension, data reveal that sensing types are in the majority in fields where the focus is on the immediate and tangible (e.g., construction, banking, manufacturing). How- ever, in areas that involve breaking new ground or long-range planning, intuitive leaders are in the majority. Thinking (as opposed to feeling) types are more common among leaders in business and industry as well as in the realm of science. In addition, thinking types appear to be chosen more often as managers even in organizations that value ‘‘feeling,’’ such as counseling centers. Finally, one of the most consistent findings is that judging types are in the majority among the leaders studied.
Thus, based on the limited research, the two preferences that seem to be most strongly associated with successful leadership are thinking and judging. However, this doesn’t mean that people with other preferences cannot be effective leaders. Much more research needs to be done before any conclusions can be reached about the relationship between MBTI types and leadership.
4-6 WORKING WITH DIFFERENT PERSONALITY TYPES
As this chapter has shown, leaders have to work with individuals who differ in many ways. Personality differences, in particular, can make the life of a leader interesting and sometimes exasperating. These differences can create an innovative environment but also lead to stress, conflict, and negative feelings.
Leaders can learn to work more effectively with different personality types by following some simple guidelines.
Understand your own personality and how you react to others. Avoid judging people based on limited knowledge and realize that everyone has different facets to their personality. Learn to control your frustration to help you keep different personality types focused on the goal and the tasks needed to reach it.
Treat everyone with respect. People like to be accepted and appreciated for who they are. Even if you find someone’s personality grating, remain professional and keep your irritation to yourself. Don’t gossip or joke about others.
Acknowledge each person’s strengths. Everyone wants to be recognized for their unique talents, so be sure to acknowledge and make use of people’s useful personality characteristics. For instance, a pessimistic person can be difficult to be around, but these gloomy folks can sometimes be helpful by calling attention to legitimate problems with an idea or plan.
Strive for understanding. A good approach to take with a personality type widely different from yours is to clarify questions every time there’s a potential for mis- communication. Follow up each question or request with a statement explaining why you asked and how it will benefit the organization as well as the individual. (Daft, 20170101)
Daft, R. L. (20170101). The Leadership Experience, 7th Edition [VitalSource Bookshelf version]. Retrieved from vbk://9781337516020
