Question

Substitutes for Leadership Leadership effectiveness is defined as the degree to which a leader's actions result in the achievement of goals, the continued commitment of employees, as well as the development of mutual trust, respect and obligation between leaders and members. In this exercise, please read the mini-case and answer the questions that follow. Agusto owns and manages Frappacup, a coffee shop on Main Street. Although his business is successful, Agusto has been questioning his own role. Frappacup is a popular hangout for university students, right across the street from the main campus. Agusto opened Frappacup three years ago, and the business has been successful. He employs primarily college students who enjoy their work and their ability to have flexible schedules on early mornings, evenings, or weekends, not to mention the free coffee given as a benefit of employment. Lately, however, Agusto has noticed his leadership is not as effective as it used to be. On the one hand, operations are running smoothly and profits are stable. On the other hand, Agusto noticed some changes, even some positive ones, were being made without his input. It was as if the shop was running on its own steam at times. For example, the night shift started holding poetry slams on Thursday evenings due to one of the night shift workers’ prior experience with this type of event. The events were drawing a new crowd and higher profits. The night shift manager, Alexa, has been at Frappacup for two years. She has forged bonds with the night employees, who hang out outside of work and have classes together on campus. No performance problems had ever been reported and profits are good. Other than feeling on the outside of the evening shift's successes, Agusto also was feeling less like the expert at the business. In the past, Agusto had trained all the new baristas because he was considered "the best." Ever since the day shift assistant manager, Christopher, made laminated cue cards for quick-look directions for making a variety of the shop's most popular drinks, employees hardly ask Agusto for advice. Of course, the drinks tasted the same, but he was starting to wonder if he still had value on the store floor and should take on a more administrative role in running the business.

A) Augusto is afraid that the laminated cue cards for making drinks lower his importance as a leader by using... (spatial distance, cohesion, formatilization, professionalism, or inflexibility).

B) One night shift worker's prior experiences with poetry slams bring what leadership substitute to Frappacup? (spatial distance, training and experience, cohesion, formalization, or task feedback)

C) The night staff's ability to work together effectively and maintain close bonds in getting along shows what leadership substitute? (training and experience, formalization, task feedback, cohesion, or spatial distance)

D) Because Agusto is not present for the night shift work, his leadership is neutralized due to... (spatial distance, training and experience, formalization, task feedback, or cohesion).

Answer 1

A)

Formalization is a process of specifying the business procedures to the employees by their manager in writing.

The laminated cue cards are serving as the same process. Thus, the correct answer is formalization.

B)

The conductance of poetry slams was based on a person’s prior experience. It brought positive results for the shop. This, can be termed as training and experience. It is because the training is done to enhance the performance.

Thus, the correct answer is training and experience.

C)

Cohesion refers to sticking together with each other to form a unit. In this case, the night shifts workers worked together and maintained close bonds with each other. This can be referred as cohesion.

Hence, the correct answer is cohesion.

D)

The absence of Agusto creates a void in the night shift. This led the team to take the decision on their own. The spatial distance is the length between two different ends.

Thus, the correct answer is spatial distance.