Question

Case study

The Bigga Izbetta retail group has 4 department stores, all located in New Zealand, at Invercargill, Dunedin and on the Kaikoura and Akaroa Coasts. It is a family-owned company run along traditional lines. Employees work under a hierarchical system, transfers and promotions are regulated by a seniority system, everyone works to a detailed job description and employees are paid according to a fixed salary schedule. George’s recent appointment as the head of the menswear department at the Kaikoura store follows his application and transfer from Dunedin. He is supervising five staff, all of whom have worked in the menswear department for at least 2 years. His second-in-charge, Monique, has worked there for 3 years and is very popular with the rest of the staff. In fact, Monique applied for the job to which George was appointed and everyone in the menswear department was disappointed when she missed out. George is putting a lot of effort into his role as head of the menswear department. He wants his department to be regarded as the most efficient and best-performing in the store and, hopefully, throughout the whole group. He hasn’t really had time to get to know his staff yet. Rather, he spends a lot of time planning and scheduling what needs to be done, assigning tasks to the staff in the department, giving directions and emphasizing sales targets and deadlines.

1.     How would you characterise George’s leadership style? Use at least two leadership theories/models in your answer.

2. Use Fiedler’s contingency theory of leadership to analyse the appropriateness of George’s behaviour in the given situation.

Answer 1

George portrays a mixture of two styles, namely Autocratic and Pacesetting style. let me explain my selection of styles below.

I say George has an autocratic style of leadership because of the fact that he does not know his team well. He has started planning for the future without knowing his team, this shows that he spends very little time talking to the team and listening to them, he only gives them targets and orders. George sales figures are more important than listening to his people.

Pacesetting style is when leaders or managers give targets and set a pace for people to achieve. in this on targets and achieving them is kept in mind. generally they ignore the thoughts and constraints which people might have. This style can exhaust people as they are only expected to deliver their best all the time

and nothing less.

Fiedler's theory states that there is no best style that a leader must follow. Theory further states that everyone's leadership style is fixed, but it's the situation that makes the difference. favorable situations make the leader deliver his best. In this case, George has autocratic and pacesetting style. he works for a departmental store, where sales are the epicentre.if he does not give targets to his team, a lousy team would not generate the desired sales and would affect his department and ultimately the store. the fact that he pushes his team to go beyond the set goals would ultimately result in good bonuses for his team.