CASE Metro Bank Marsha Brown was the new manager of a suburban office of Metro B

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CASE Metro Bank Marsha Brown was the new manager of a suburban office of Metro Bank. The branch office was experiencing low morale and lower productivity than expected. One of the difficulties was that the office served as an informal training center for young managers. New hires who needed experience as loan officers or assistant branch managers were assigned here for training. When they reached a certain level of competence, they were promoted out of the branch office. This practice was demoralizing to the less mobile tellers and other assistants, who felt exploited and saw no personal reward in “training their boss.” After some checking with her boss and other people at corporate headquarters, Marsha concluded that it would be impossible to change this program. Her branch was one of those considered to be essential for executive development in Metro Bank. During her first few months on the job, Marsha got to know her employees quite well. She reviewed performance records and met with each employee in the branch to talk about the person’s career aspirations. She learned that many of her employees were quite capable and could do much more than they were presently doing. However, they had never seen themselves as “going anywhere” in the organization. Marsha searched for a unique vision for the branch office that would integrate the needs of her employees with the objectives of the executive development program, and in the process better serve the bank’s customers. She formulated the following strategic objective: “To be the branch that best develops managerial talent while still offering quality customer service.” From this decision flowed a series of actions. First, Marsha declared that development opportunities for growth would be open to all, and she initiated a career development program for her employees. For those who wanted career advancement, she negotiated with the central training department for spaces in some of its programs. She persuaded the personnel department to inform her regularly about job openings that might interest her employees, including those not involved in the executive development program. Next, she built rewards into the appraisal system for employees who helped others learn, so that even those who did not aspire to advance would get some benefit from contributing to the new objective. To provide adequate backup in service functions, she instituted cross-training. Not only did this training provide a reserve of assistance when one function was experiencing peak workloads, it also contributed to a better understanding of the policies and procedures in other functions. Marsha also used developmental assignments with her own subordinate managers. She frequently had the assistant managers run staff meetings, represent the branch office at corporate meetings, or carry out some of her other managerial responsibilities. The changes made by Marsha resulted in major gains. By repeatedly stressing the strategic objectives in her words and actions, she gave the branch office a distinctive character. Employees felt increased pride and morale improved. Some of the old-timers acquired new aspirations and, after developing their skills, advanced into higher positions in the bank. Even those who remained at the branch office felt good about the advancement of others, because now they saw their role as crucial for individual and organizational success rather than as a thankless task. The new spirit carried over to the treatment of customers, and together with the increased competence provided by crosstraining, it resulted in faster and better service to customers. QUESTIONS 1. What leadership behaviors did Marsha use to change the branch office and motivate employees? 2. Describe Marsha’s vision for her branch office of the bank. 3. Do you think Marsha should be classified as charismatic, transformational, or both ?

Explanation / Answer

1. What leadership behaviors did Marsha use to change the branch office and motivate employees?

Marsha is trying to develop her subordinates grow in their respective work areas. Her focus is to develop the skills of her people and to achieve the ultimate objective which she has defined in the vision. In this process, she is trying to help people find the purpose of the job they are doing. In doing so, she is connecting the performance appraisal directly with the executive development which was earlier perceived as a thankless job. She is letting people learn the process of other departments by cross-sharing. She is also motivating the employees by creating a sense of autonomy where the assistant managers are allowed to take responsibilities of the next level.

2. Describe Marsha’s vision for her branch office of the bank.

Marsha has coined out the vision of the branch as - “To be the branch that best develops managerial talent while still offering quality customer service.” Note that the most important elements of this vision statement are that it is highly relevant with regards to what people do in reality and also it provides a purpose for excellence to the people in a persuasive manner. By including the phrase 'best develops managerial talent", she links the performance of the employees with the expectation so that they don't feel harassed or exploited. Furthermore, the phrase "still offering quality customer service" provides them with a sense of achievement and competitiveness that the branch is as good as, if not better than, the other branches. This vision statement is, therefore, a solid foundation for perceiving the purpose of the job carried out by the employees. This is directly linked to motivation.

3. Do you think Marsha should be classified as charismatic, transformational, or both?

We will classify Marsha as a transformational leader more than a charismatic leader at least on the basis of the case facts. Note that she is more focused on developing her subordinates and empowering them through successfully implementing a well-crafted vision rather than through her own personality or charisma. It is, however, undoubtedly evident that she must have shown personal traits or charisma in the process of the formulation of vision, talking to the employees down the line, keeping them motivated, and letting them take the additional responsibilities.

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