N201 : Business In Leadership Assessment Answers

Question 

Case study questions is of two parts 

Part Two

Answer:

Part One

The leadership situation in the shop

The leadership situation in the auto shop is democratic in nature. According to Moore (2016), democratic leadership style can be defined as the support or encouragement that is provided by a leader to its employees. The leaders does not impose unnecessary burden on the employees or impose their will. In the case mentioned, Alan runs the auto shop in a democratic manner. The adoption of democratic leadership allows leaders to participate in the work activity along with the employees. Therefore as observed, by Fairhurst and Connaughton (2014) this leadership style can understand the effort put in by the employees in order to be successful in business. In the case of Alan, evidence has been provided from the case study about the effectiveness of the style.

The fact that the auto shop does not have many employees provides a drawback. Despite this, the employees are specialised in the tasks delegated to them and based on the tasks they aim to make the customers satisfied. For example, Gil and Hans are the experienced mechanics and they provide the bulk of the support to the other employees. At the same time as evidenced from the case study, Alan spends time by working alongside the mechanics and provides them with the support needed for fulfilling the orders. Alan always provides encouragement to the employees to participate in the decision making process as he is aware that the employees are capable of understanding and making decisions on their own. Thereby, the leadership style adopted by Alan is appropriate for the situation as with less employees, Alan does not have to fear about missing labour due to the adoption of other dominating leadership styles.

Part Two

Description of leadership style of Alan during the flood

The evidence from the case study suggests that during the time of flood, Alan had adopted a autocratic leadership style. As pointed out by Antonakis and Day (2017), autocratic leadership style is adopted by the managers while trying to get a job done quickly and efficiently. Although it may a negative impact on the employee, it can be considered as an effective leadership style particularly in situations that demand spontaneous reactions (Champy 2018). In the case of Alan, the adopted leadership style during the flood is appropriate, as the flood could have caused serious damage to the cars and in return cause loss for the company.

As evidenced from the case study, Alan adopts a more democratic approach while treating the employees. Therefore, shouting out commands at the employees seemed to be out of his character as pointed out by one of his employees, Kirk. Despite this, it can be strongly argued that in a crisis such as the occurrence of flood, adopting an autocratic leadership style helped Alan and the shop. As is evidenced from the case study, thousands of dollars of property damage was avoided due to the quick action taken by Alan in encouraging the employees. Thus, the leadership style was appropriate for the situation.

Reference

Antonakis, J. and Day, D.V. eds., 2017. The nature of leadership. Sage publications.

Champy, J., 2018. Reengineering Management The Mandate for new Leadership. Harper Collins.

Fairhurst, G.T. and Connaughton, S.L., 2014. Leadership: A communicative perspective. Leadership, 10(1), pp.7-35.

Moore, J.F., 2016. The death of competition: leadership and strategy in the age of business ecosystems. HarperCollins.