Leadership Jeremiah Bigatallio\'s Leadership Challenge: As Bigatallio

Leadership

Jeremiah Bigatallio's Leadership Challenge:

As Bigatallio steps into a leadership position, it is critical for him to dismantle many of the previously accepted flaws in the company's functionality. There are three key recommendations that should be heeded if Bigatallio is to lead the company out of the negative leadership era left behind by John Angle.

First among these recommendations is the imperative for Bigatallio to create a way for measuring performance and establishing accountability. One of the most damaging dimensions of the Angle era was the outgoing Director's proclivity for laissez-faire style oversight. This approach was marked largely by a hands-off style of management in which self-monitoring was accepted as a sufficient way of maintaining performance. Under these conditions, the company devolved into an environment where overtime and other aspects of the labor/pay system were exploited by workers. Little if any assessment of performance quality was conducted. Jeremiah must reign in these abuses by creating concrete ways of measuring performance and rewarding those who provide exemplary service.

The second recommendation concerns the difficulty that Jeremiah will absolutely face as he attempts to change the nature of things at the company. Early evidence suggests that Bigatallio is in for significant internal resistance as he attempts to bring greater accountability to the company. Therefore, he must recruit allies from within the company's social structure. Here, champions of the performance accountability and incentive initiatives will be an important part of bringing about greater acceptance of company changes. These project champions will also be an important source of dialogue for Bigatallio, who must consider the input and feedback of those whom he will oversee. This will create a multilateral channel for communication between management and personnel that may help to remove some of the resentment that is also an obstacle to productivity.

With respect to this resentment, a third recommendation concerns the need to bring about a more harmonious collaborative relationship between the two department that Bigatallio will oversee. This means creating a forum such as a weekly or bi-weekly meeting in which open dialogue can be mediated by between the engineers, technicians and lab assistants. This should help to ensure that all parties are engaged in the process of organizational transformation.

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