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90 PART 2: RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES ON LEADERSHIP
Leadership at Work

Task Versus Relationship Role Play
You are the new distribution manager for French Grains Bakery. Five drivers report to
you that deliver French Grains baked goods to grocery stores in the metropolitan area.
The drivers are expected to complete the Delivery Report to keep track of actual deliveries
and any changes that occur. The Delivery Report is a key element in inventory control and
provides the data for French Grains invoicing of grocery stores. Errors become excessive
when drivers fail to complete the report each day, especially when store managers request
different inventory when the driver arrives. As a result, French Grains may not be paid
for several loaves of bread a day for each mistake in the Delivery Report. The result is lost
revenue and poor inventory control.
One of the drivers accounts for about 60 percent of the errors in the Delivery Reports.
This driver is a nice person and generally reliable, but sometimes is late for work. His
major problem is that he falls behind in his paperwork. A second driver accounts for about
30 percent of the errors, and a third driver for about 10 percent of the errors. The other
two drivers turn in virtually error-free Delivery Reports.
You are a high task-oriented (and low relationship-oriented) leader, and have decided
to talk to the drivers about doing a more complete and accurate job with the Delivery
Report. Write below exactly how you will go about correcting this problem as a task-
oriented leader. Will you meet with drivers individually or in a group? When and where
will you meet with them? Exactly what will you say and how will you get them to listen?
Now adopt the role of a high relationship-oriented (and low task-oriented) leader.
Write below exactly what you will do and say as a relationship-oriented distribution man-
ager. Will you meet with the drivers individually or in a group? What will you say and
how will you get them to listen?
In Class: The instructor can ask students to volunteer to play the role of the
Distribution Manager and the drivers. A few students can take turns role playing
the Distribution Manager in front of the class to show how they would handle the
drivers as task- and relationship-oriented leaders. The instructor can ask other students
for feedback on the leader’s effectiveness and on which approach seems more effective for
this situation, and why.
Source: Based on K. J. Keleman, J. E. Garcia, and K. J. Lovelace, Management Incidents: Role Plays for Management
Development (Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, 1990), pp. 69–72.

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