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106 LEADERSHIP THEORY AND PRACTICE (Continued) sense of how the seminar would be

ID: 414314 • Letter: 1

Question

106 LEADERSHIP THEORY AND PRACTICE (Continued) sense of how the seminar would be designed and run. Because the previous seminars had not always been very productive, many of the managers felt a little disillusioned about coming to the seminar. As one of the managers said, "Here we go again: a fancy in-house training program from which we will gain nothing. Because Jim recognized that the managers were very experienced, he did not put many restrictions on attendance and participation. He used a variety of presentation methods and actively solicited involvement from the managers in the seminar. Throughout the first two sessions, he went out of his way to be friendly with the group. He gave them fre- quent coffee breaks during the sessions, during these breaks, he pro- moted socializing and networking. During the third session, Jim became aware of some difficulties with the seminar. Rather than the full complement of 25 managers, attendance had dropped to about only 15 managers. Although the starting time was established at 8:30, attendees had been arriving as late as 10:00. During the afternoon sessions, some of the managers were leaving the sessions to return to their offices at the company. As he approached the fourth session, Jim was apprehensive about why things had been going poorly. He had become quite uncertain about how he should approach the group. Many questions were running through his mind: Had he treated the managers in the wrong way? Had he been too easy regarding attendance at the sessions? Should he have said something about the managers skipping out in the afternoon? Were the participants taking the seminar seriously? Jim was certain that the content of the seminars was innovative and substantive, but he could not figure out what he could change to make the program more successful. He sensed that his style was not working for this group, but he didn't have a clue as to how he should change what he was doing to make the sessions better Questions . According to the SLIT model (see Figure 5.1), what style of leadership is Jim using to run the seminars? 2. At what level are the managers? 3. From a leadership perspective, what is Jim doing wrong? 4. What specific changes could Jim implement to improve the seminars?

Explanation / Answer

Answer 1: Jim shows S3 leadership style (Low directive-high supportive) where Jim is not putting any restrictions on the Managers and trying to be more supportive by encouraging the manager participants without focusing on the goals of the training seminar.

Answer 2: The middle-level managers shows D2 developmental level where they have some sort of competence but lack of commitment from them. All the participant managers have enough competence to appear for the seminar, but they did not commit the offerings from the seminar.

Answer 3: Jim did not focus on the goals of the seminar, ways to monitor and control the execution of the seminar. Jim should have been clearly stated the objectives at the beginning and set the tone right for each manager to be held accountable by having timely checks and clear communication.

Answer 4: Jim could have been more creative in organizing the seminar. He should have tracked the attendance from the beginning of the seminars by putting up little more restrictions. He should have offered rewards which could be helpful and attractive to the Managers to fulfill their jobs.