Leadership case study comparison

Dan Boyd and Wesley Simpson both employ distinctly different leadership styles and approaches within the world environment. As the case study illustrated, Boyd is much more of a “hand-on” motivation leader. He is adept at galvanizing his team to encourage outperformance. From the case study, Boyd also appears very charismatic and able to unite the entire team around a common purpose and vision. In this instance, Boyd was able to motivate employees to see their own self-worth and value in relation to helping improve customer outcomes. Boyd appears to be using many Servant Leadership Theory traits as he often mimics the behaviors he wants his subordinates to emulate. As indicated in the case study, Boyd has a very heavy customer centric approach to leadership. He is often willing to go above and beyond for clients as indicated by his ability to use his own car to delivery orders to construction sites. Is form of leadership has manifested instead directly and indirectly throughout the organization as customer satisfaction scores have increase significantly. Likewise, many employees are now much more productive than they were previously (Albritton, 1990).

Wesley Simpson however, appears to have a much more antiquated leadership style. His style is much more laissez-faire in its approach and is akin to more of the transactional theory of leadership. Simpson is much more even spirited according to the case study. His even temperament provides stability to the department, which during periods of negative sentiment can be beneficial. However, his leadership style does motivate team members in the same manner as Boyd. As a result, prior to Boyd’s arrival, customers service scores often languished behind peers, resulting in a high level of disgruntled customers. Likewise, Simpson’s leadership style does not look to continually improve processes or systems. Instead, the status quo appears to be to the predominate method of business activity under his leadership (Bellman, 2001).

Through observation and materials presented throughout the case, it appears that transition to Boyd as the future leader of the department. The shift should occur for a litany of reasons. The first, and arguable most pressing is the competitive dynamic permeated throughout the home improvement and construction industry. The industry overall is undergoing unprecedented change due in part to evolving industry dynamics. Large, big box retailers are now utilized their financial strength to merge and acquire other competitors within the industry. These acquisitions are creating much larger organizations that have a broad array of product assortment and geographic reach. Through their size, these organizations are able to use their purchasing power to induce lower prices from suppliers who rely on their platforms to sell their products. These lower prices, can then be transferred to consumers created a competitive advantage that House, Hearth and Home can not adequately counter due to their small size. This form of economies of scale makes it harder for smaller organizations to compete based solely on price. As a result, smaller organizations must differentiate their product offerings in a manner to better compete with the larger, more cost-conscious competitors. One method in which to do so is through high quality customers services. Many of the larger retailers, due in part to their size, have had a much tougher time staffing their respective organization in a manner that will allow all customer needs to be met adequately. Smaller retailers such as House, Hearth and Home however do not have such an issue. It is therefore imperative that the organization can “wow” the customer consistently in order to justify paying higher prices for similar products that can found elsewhere. Likewise, it is very important to continually impress corporate clients who tend to the purchase large quantities in bulk but depend on “just-in-time” delivery methods to fulfill last minute demand. As such, in order for the company to be successful, it must shift its focus on being purely a transactional company to one that is heavily customer centric in its approach.

To properly accomplish this shift, Boyd should be promoted to a senior leadership position. Currently, Boyd is heavily responsible for many of the customer service improvements already in place but doesn’t have the senior leadership title. Simpson, who does have the current senior leadership title, is not eliciting the internal change needed for the organization to be successful long-term. In fact, his more even tone, appears to be a relic of an older, more antiquated corporate culture that is no longer relevant today. His leadership style, will not allow the organization to properly grow and fend off increasing competition from much larger and more established market participants.