Page 146 - leadership-experience-2008

CikguOnline
CikguOnline
CHAPTER 4: THE LEADER AS AN INDIVIDUAL 127
the right thing, and that it is possible to influence and modify the behavior of anyone through
logic and reason. Once a person’s shortcomings are pointed out to her, A.M. will try to help
the person overcome them. She believes that all employees can be happy, content, and dedi-
cated to the goals of the organization.
J.T. J.T. is an extravert with a strong drive for achievement and power. He likes
new experiences and tends to be impulsive and adventurous. He is very self-assured and
confident in his own abilities, but highly suspicious of the motives and abilities of others.
J.T. believes the average person has an inherent dislike for work and will avoid responsi-
bility when possible. He is very slow to trust others, but does have the ability over time
to develop close, trusting relationships. In general, though, J.T. believes most people must
be coerced, controlled, and threatened to get them to do their jobs well and to the benefit
of the organization.
F.C. This candidate is also an extravert, but, although she is competitive, F.C. does
not seem to have the strong desire for dominance that many extraverts exhibit. F.C. is
also highly conscientious and goal-oriented, and will do whatever she believes is neces-
sary to achieve a goal. F.C. has a generally positive attitude toward others, believing that
most people want to do their best for the organization. F.C. does, though, seem to have a
problem forming close, personal attachments. Her lively, outgoing personality enables her
to make many superficial acquaintances, but she seems to distrust and avoid emotions in
herself and others, preventing the development of close relationships.
Sources: This case is based on information in “Consultant’s Report” in John M. Champion and Francis J. Bridges,
Critical Incidents in Management: Decision and Policy Issues, 6th ed. (Homewood, IL: Irwin, 1989), pp. 55–60;
and James Waldroop and Timothy Butler, “Guess What? You’re Not Perfect,” Fortune, (October 16, 2000),
pp. 415–420.

QUESTIONS
1. Based only on the consultant’s summary, which of the three candidates would you
select as a leader for the group of loan officers? Discuss and defend your decision.
2. The selection committee is more divided than before on who would be best for the
job. What additional information do you think you would need to help you select
the best candidate?
3. How much weight do you think should be given to the personality assessment? Do you
believe personality tests can be useful in predicting the best person for a job? Discuss.

The Deadlocked Committee
Ned Norman tried to reconstruct, in his own mind, the series of events that had culmi-
nated in this morning’s deadlocked committee meeting. Each of the members had suddenly
seemed to resist any suggestions that did not exactly coincide with his or her own ideas for
implementing the program under consideration. This sort of “stubbornness,” as Norman
considered it, was not like the normal behavior patterns of most committee participants.
Of course, the comment during last week’s meeting about “old fashioned seat-of-the-
pants decision making” had ruffled a few feathers, but Ned didn’t think that was why
things had bogged down today.
Ned recalled starting this morning’s session by stating that the committee had discussed
several of the factors connected with the proposed expanded services program, and now it
seemed about time to make a decision about which way to go. Robert Romany had immedi-
ately protested that they had barely scratched the surface of the possibilities for implementing
the program. Then, both Hillary Thomas and David Huntington, who worked in the statistics
department of Division B, had sided with Romany and insisted that more time was needed
for in-depth research. Walter Weston had entered the fray by stating that this seemed a little
uncalled for, since previous experience has clearly indicated that expansion programs such as
this one should be implemented through selected area district offices. This had sparked a state-
ment from Susan Pilcher that experience was more often than not a lousy teacher, which was
followed by Todd Tooley repeating his unfortunate statement about old-fashioned decision