Leadership Theories and Applications

Leadership

Frank's leadership style is ineffective, which is part of the reason why his company may not be doing so well. The leadership style that Frank exhibits in this case study is authoritarian in nature. Frank does not want to listen to his managers, or engage them in the learning process. Frank does not believe that what they have to say is valid, and shuts them out of the decision-making process entirely. His method of communication is completely unilateral. This is the problem in this case as a whole: bad leadership. The root causes of the problem are that Frank does not want to change either his leadership style or his method of managing the company.

The leadership behaviors and attitudes that Frank exhibits include refusing to listen, acting in an authoritarian manner, and blaming others for problems instead of taking personal responsibility. As the business development manager, Frank is not a good leader. The senior management may need to hire a new business development manager who understands the environmental factors employees like Jennifer and Oliver do. Understandably, Frank is worried. However, there was no reason for him to call the meeting if all he wanted to do was berate his staff. Frank accomplishes nothing by telling the four project managers that they are not doing a good enough job, and he never indicates what he can do to improve the company. He does not listen to Jennifer, who says that government spending has tightened up. Perhaps Jennifer has ideas of where to find new contracts. Oliver asks Frank directly how to go about securing new contracts, attempting to engage Frank in a productive conversation that would be proactive and focused on goals. Instead, Frank dismisses what his team has to say. He says, "I've heard enough excuses." Frank is closed-minded, and places undue demands on the team to find a "new pending contract" without offering any support.

3. Frank could approach his project managers in a much more constructive way that would lead to solutions. The key issues in the case are the fact that Frank is likely under pressure from his supervisors, as the government contracts have not been renewed. Frank needs to have several new contracts in their place. Another key issue is that Frank does not take any responsibility for finding the new contracts. Although the project managers are ultimately responsible for managing the new contracts, Frank is the business development manager. That means he should be taking the initiative instead of expecting others to magically do all the work. Furthermore, a key issue is that there are four good project managers on the team but Frank is uninterested in listening to any of them.

The root causes of the problems are related in part to external factors beyond the control of the company, mainly losing the government contracts and a tightened government budget that makes it unlikely to secure future contracts with them. Another root cause of the problem is that the team is not motivated or empowered to locate new contracts, because Frank does not engage the team in a participative or democratic discussion about how to best go about doing it.