¶ … Mark Young, he clearly experienced an evolution of leadership style, not only according to his previous work experience, but also according to the situational demands of his workplace. At first, he was very task oriented, generally taking most of the responsibility and making decisions independently, while his team worked as subordinates, simply taking orders and carrying out work. Later, when he became more used to being part of a team, Mark began to create a greater balance between his relationships and the tasks required to make his work successful. This created of his workplace the most successful department at the hospital. The question that remains would be how to maintain the great success that Mark has established with the painting department. While it is good that he has established a successful balance between task- and relationship-oriented tasks, it is possible that these would flow into a lack of balance once more, since both tasks and relationships tend to be fluid rather than static. Hence, a consultant might consider Mark's situation not necessarily from the perspective of his present success, but according to future issues that might arise.

As mentioned, both Mark's task and relationship orientations are high, which places him within the Team Management leadership style, according to Blake and Mouton's grid (Chapter 23, n.d.). In other words, he is concerned both with production and the human needs of his workers, taking time to "hang out" with them, take them for lunch, and the like. In this way, he provides a platform for a meaningful and "fun" work experience for his subordinates. According to many leadership experts, this is a vital component of leadership, since it creates a consistently positive experience among followers, which also cultivates a high level of loyalty among them.

Mark's leadership style changed significantly throughout his work. Initially, one might deduct that his previous...

Later, however, he became more team oriented, delegating work while still keeping a close eye on operations and making sure that tasks do not take a subordinate position to relationships.
CASE 4.2

In the case of Susan Parks, her leadership style appears to be more static than Mark's. Like Mark, she appears to have let her situation dictate the way in which she conducts her business and its related relationships. While her extremely driven nature has created success for her business, the same is not consistent for her relationships with the teams working under her.

As such, Susan is disproportionately task oriented without balancing this with some sense of the needs of those working for her. Indeed, Susan's business sense dictates that she focuses on tasks to be accomplished to promote success and growth rather than cultivating relationships within her workplace. This is then also the reason why there are divergent reactions to her leadership style. These divergent reactions would then also be the focus question in this case. If Susan is to increase the happiness and loyalty of her team, she will need to make some changes in her leadership style.

As mentioned, Susan's task-oriented leadership is disproportionate to her orientation towards relationships. Her high focus on tasks and low focus on relationships places her within the Authority-Obedience category (Chapter 23, n.d.). She is far more concerned with production than with the personal or human needs of those working for her.

This is then also the reason why those working for her display such a wide array of reactions to her style. While some of her workers clearly do share her focus on production and admire the fact that she is very driven, others…