Project 1
WK1 Background
Andrew Rockfish, part owner and head of Global Delivery Direct, North American Division, was watching “Undercover Boss” on TV last night and was considering the idea for himself. He thought it was a great way to get honest feedback from the frontline workers. While the lack of honest feedback was important to him, what bothered him the most was the lack of personal mentoring! He could see weaknesses in his leadership staff that concerned him more than ever. GDD was losing market share in North America, and he knew that leading innovation and change was critical for GDD to stay in the game. This change would only come from leadership and committed workers. As he was mulling this idea over in his mind the next morning at work, he overheard a conversation between a few human resource employees discussing the paperwork for the new management hires. It occurred to him that were he to get the seasoned managers (including himself) to lead the training sessions, the experienced managers might benefit from a review of some of the major leadership concepts as well as from being exposed to some of the contemporary leadership ideas. These training sessions could facilitate reflection on the strengths and weaknesses each may have in a constructive and much less threatening manner. The new recruits would gain the most because they would get the benefit of mentoring from the seasoned managers while becoming familiar with the GDD way of doing things. Personally, Rockfish thought, “I will get to see the new hires and how they work.” As these ideas began to grow on Rockfish, he went to see the Director of Human Resource to discuss the ideas further.
Fortunate for you, GDD has given you a new managerial spot. A recent e-mail sent to you revealed that you would be receiving eight weeks of training before entering your assigned job. The focus of the training is leadership led by the Division Head, Andrew Rockfish. The existing managers (your instructors), will lead you in discussions and assignments that will focus on a variety of leadership topics. Each week you will be provided with an agenda (schedule) along with Rockfish’s personal comments on the topics and material to read that will hopefully allow you to comprehend the importance of good leadership to GDD and how it is best accomplished.
Rockfish has put the following agenda out for his management mentees. Staff managers have prepared the weekly topics for discussion. In putting the schedule together, Rockfish has provided key take-away points.
WK2 BACKGROUND
As part of the movement toward making money Rockfish reviewed the Human Resources (HR) departments of GDD nationwide. He realized that worldwide departments were staffed much like GDD North America, with a personnel officer and a benefits specialist. Further, he found that most of their work was focused on form review and collection for benefits, approving vacation and sick time, as well has processing applications for employment. Rockfish decided to hire a department head for HR in North America as a test to see if the department could provide more value to the company. The new Department Head, Carly Simon, has great ideas on shared leadership and is hoping to be involved in other departments of the division by providing what she calls a “people take” on departmental tasks.
Rockfish has asked Simon to review the safety record of the Chicago station because it seems to have the highest incident of injury. Simon looked at the number of workmen’s compensation claims that the Chicago station employees filed. The results show that the claims total was 24% higher than the other stations. Simon began to look for answers. Her conversations with the employees in the lunchroom revealed some very important ideas:
Employee attitude towards injuries was cavalier. They wore injuries almost like a badge of honor because it meant employees were able to cut down on time moving more packages out the door
Employees often worked double shifts to make up for the employees who were injured. Employees seemed to fear the idea of speaking up because it was not considered good to do so in the eyes of the team
When pressed, the employees admitted that when met with possible delays in conveying the packages to the sorters or planes, they would ignore safety procedures
Some believed that management cared more about productivity and profits than the welfare of the employees
Simon suspected that the attitude of the employees of the station did not help the situation, but management was creating the problem. A major accident validated her suspicions. An old baggage machine that uses hydraulic lift to get the packages loaded in the cargo hold collapsed seriously injuring two men. One was not likely to recover the use of his legs. When Carly heard of the accident she ran to the tarmac and talked with James Taylor, the station manager. Distraught, Taylor confessed that he was pushing the workers to use the old baggage machine because production was much higher than the new machine. Taylor indicated that he had made several requests for two new machines but only received one. Management said that they did not care about the safety of the machine; that the men would just have to be careful
WK3 BACKGROUND
This week we examine the relationship between a strong leadership point of view and creating competitive edge. It is important that our new GDD leaders take this message home. GDD is losing money right now because we are in a highly competitive marketplace and do not have the resources to compete. Change and innovation are the only way out of this dilemma. Our leaders must look for opportunities and people who can meet this challenge.
Rockfish Opening Remarks
One of the jobs of the leader, no matter at what level in the organization, is to create and sustain competitive edge. It does not matter whether you are the owner, CEO or team leader. The purpose of a leader remains the same - accomplishing the sustainable organization. Clawson (2009) explained that there are three ways a leader accomplishes this end goal; by being a strategic thinkers, relationship builder, and a change agent. To complete these tasks and lead the organization or group, an individual must understand the nature of the tasks as well as possess the skills necessary to complete them.
In the weeks to come, we will examine the job tasks and skills necessary to lead a successful vision. The way a leader goes about doing his or her job helps to set the direction, implement plans and motivate people to accomplish a task. The way a leader behaves and interacts with others to get the tasks done is known as a leadership style.
In week two, we learned that a leader must have a point of view or attitude. To complement that point of view, a successful leader should adopt a leadership style. The choice of leadership style should enhance the point of view of the leader and the structure and culture of the organization.
Wk 4 BACKGROUND
I was pleased when I thought about how well last week went with the new mentoring program. The others leaders seem to be happy as well. Josie Jasper, head of shipping, expressed as much. Josie commented that she had not known about the idea behind Flatarchies. She struggled with transition problems in her department. She thought she might review the idea some more.
So far so good Rockfish mused. Implied in last week’s work Rockfish noted was the important idea of a leader’s approach. Leadership theories can help a leader begin to frame a way of thinking about leading others but leadership is far more complex. The leader must approach leadership as an attitude if they are going to be successful. Separate from leadership style he thought, a leader needs to define leading for one’s self. Exposure to Clawson’s Diamond Model of Leadership will be the focus of this week’s take away. Clawson, Rockfish remembered in his book “The Three Levels of Leadership”, makes the point that leadership is an approach (point of view) whose value lies not in the position a person holds but in the attitude. Further, a leader will never be successful if they do not manage their own energy as well as those around them.
This week’s agenda will start with the idea that a leadership approach is necessary for success
