Management Case Analysis - Blue Sky
Blue Sky is a software consulting firm established by Max Blue with its headquarters in Cleveland Ohio and it operates in five regional offices. However, recently Max stepped down as the company’s CEO and Jim Willis, HR software division’s Vice President become the CEO. Blue Sky consists of three sections including machine tool software, HR software, and health payment software and each division has the Vice President as its head. The company is experiencing several management issues ranging from leadership to decision-making.
In this light, the company has undergone leadership change from Max’s autocratic leadership style to collaborative, changes in employee motivation, strategic planning, and
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Leadership in Blue Sky
Max Blue was the founder and CEO of Blue Sky until recently when Willis succeeded him. Max exercised autocratic leadership where Max had total control over all the decisions regarding the company. There was little input from the employees. From his quote saying that Blue Sky is his company and he knows what best for the company and how to run it clearly indicated his autocratic leadership. Some characteristics of autocratic leadership include leaders making all the decisions, no effort from the members, leaders dictate work processes and methods, and the leaders do not trust the member with significant decisions or tasks.
Max exhibited these autocratic leadership characteristics from development the software programs to running the company. Max personally led the development of the three software programs that Blue Sky offer, and he made all the decisions himself. His autocratic nature explains the reasons why Max felt that it is unnecessary to have planning and meetings since he wanted to be in control in every situation. One of the advantages of Max’s autocratic nature is that it led to the successful development of Blue Sky’s three primary software programs which are the company’s significant competitive advantage.
However, his leadership resulted in the development of a passive culture in the company, where
and control in the hands of the manager. In an autocratic style of management, the leader makes all of
Autocratic- In this management style, the manager becomes the sole decision maker. The manager does not care about the other staff and their involvement in decision making. Therefore, the decisions reflect the personality and the opinion of the manager. The decision does not reflect the team 's collective opinion.
Leadership styles have significant effects on organizations. For instance, it influences organizational culture and determines how leaders address conflict. Ultimately, it impacts organizational performance. Consequently, leaders must adapt their approach to achieve the desired outcome. Therefore, it is imperative leaders understand and can implement a variety of leadership styles. This essay will describe how an autocratic and participative leader’s style impacts organizational culture, summarize the strengths and weaknesses of each style, and explain how each leader would successfully resolve conflict.
Autocratic Approach: Autocratic leadership gives a positive belief about the updates about any policies. However this kind of approach is not highly regarded by many of the working environments. This is due to the amendments being brought into use prematurely for the uses to access them. This approach of leadership and management may be viewed as being too authoritative.
The management or leadership style that Willie uses is autocratic. The autocratic leader holds all power, authority, and control, essentially reserving the right to make all decisions. For example, the way Willie micromanages and effectively ignores the mid-level
Blue Sky is a fifteen year old software-consulting firm, however, has some obstacle to overcome. As the
They decide together what needs to be done and how to get it done. The leader clearly defines the expectations and mission offering guidance along the way and is the final decision maker. With this type of management, everyone is vested in the best outcome because they are all involved with the process. Team members are appreciated because they are rewarded for their hard work and efforts immediately amongst their peers. Facility B focused on doing things the correct way every day in order to prepare for any inspection and uphold all standards at all times to protect and serve their residents. Unlike facility A which felt it was unnecessary to honor required standards regularly unless it is time for a survey. With facility A’s autocratic leadership style, employees are directed with fear and intimidation. There is no sense of self-value due to the lack of ability to exemplify talents and pride in their duties for fear of retaliation. The only reward was given for informant behaviors and following the directions of the manager only. The shiftiness of facility A was exposed by sabotage due to lack of camaraderie and loyalty to such a militant leader.
Leadership is critical when executing a strategic change initiative. By differentiating leadership and management, leadership styles and the key factors of change we can better understand what should be done to successfully lead change. Success is not obtained through leadership alone but by developing a group of individuals from all levels of the organization who work together as a team. . (Leban and Stone, 2007)
The book The Heart of Change shows the practical side of the theories that are taught in the course textbook. It presents stories of successes and failures based in the application of concepts discussed in Organizational Behavior and Management and in class. Although we talked about several different concepts the ones that are evident in the examples in The Heart Of Change are the more progressive and individual centered approaches. The leadership characteristics that are important to successful change in an organization are those that are espoused in the transformational theory of management. It makes sense that ideals in line with the transformational management theory
Leadership can be defined as the ability to lead a group of people successfully in an organization. Hall, et al (2008) have mentioned that an effective leader has to be visionary, motivating and responsible in order to successfully run a business organization. In business the two key leadership styles, which are widely used in today’s corporate world are autocratic leadership and democratic leadership (Johnson, n.d.). Autocratic leadership may be explained as “a leadership style where the manager sets objectives, allocates tasks and insists on obedience” (Hall, et al 2008 p.g 401). Conversely, democratic leadership encourages “participation in decision making” (Hall, et al 2008 p.g 402). Whilst many people would consider autocratic
The purpose of this paper is to discuss organizational change and the management of that change. I will talk about the different drivers of change, the factors a leader needs to weigh to implement change effectively, the various resistances a leader may encounter while trying to implement change, and how various leadership styles will effect the realization of change. I will also discuss the knowledge I have gained through the completion of this assignment and how I think it might affect the way I manage change in my workplace.
In order to move forward and keep ahead, I believe an organization need change leaders who have capabilities to have their workforce go from change avoidance to change acceptance. “One of the most significant strengths of an effective leader is the ability to create a positive work climate where people are energized to do their best work, free of unnecessary distractions” (Cronkite, n.d.). During this part of the change process I feel the change leader would have better success if he would be tactful and harness the skills of others by working in a collaborative rather than hierarchical way. Leadership in an organization involves instilling motivation and enthusiasm in the employees. An effective leader knows how to manage and tackle difficult situations and people. Many reasons can cause a force of change in organizations but I feel it’s up to change leaders to manage these planned and unexpected changes. (Word count: 548)
The control of all operation by the Autocratic management style is the use of power over employee and staff and forces them to deal with the customer. This type of leadership makes the decision alone and converts it to the employee which the employee has to work, for example, to deliver the best customer service manger instruct all employee to follow his guidelines for this process. The Democratic leadership style is an important way to give the opportunity for the employee in making decision in the
The impact of leadership style in the change process of an organization influences the performance; Leadership as stated by Martin, Liao and Campbell (2013) remains one of the most consequential contextual influencers of employee performance. Latson (2014) elucidated that some leaders may have the best intentions, but the impact will not be in alignment with the intension. But leadership trait is the ability to inspire, motivate and engage the followers to make the inspired vision happen beyond their normal capabilities (Mendez, Munoz & Munoz 2013). A change is the most frequent phenomenon of today's reality and a good understanding of how to manage the change process is very essential; Change is translation from one state into