Critical Thinking Questions

1. Why is it important for top executives to value and support shared leadership?

2. Transformational leadership is the most popular perspective of leadership. However, it is far from perfect. Discuss the limitations of transformational leadership.

3. This chapter distinguished charismatic leadership from transformational leadership. Yet charisma is identified by most employees and managers as a characteristic of effective leaders. Why is charisma commonly related to leadership? In your opinion, are the best leaders charismatic? Why or why not?

4. Consider your favourite teacher. What people-oriented and task-oriented leadership behaviours did he or she use effectively? In general, do you think students prefer an instructor who is more people-oriented or task-oriented? Explain your preference.

5. Your employees are skilled and experienced customer service representatives who perform nonroutine tasks, such as solving unique customer problems or meeting special needs with the company's equipment. Use path-goal theory to identify the most appropriate leadership style(s) you should use in this situation. Be sure to fully explain your answer, and discuss why other styles are inappropriate.

6. Identify a current political leader (e.g., prime minister, premier, mayor) and his or her recent accomplishments. Now, using the implicit leadership perspective, think of ways that these accomplishments of the leader may be overstated. In other words, explain why they may be due to factors other than the leader.

7. Find two newspaper ads for management or executive positions. What leadership attributes are mentioned in these ads? If you were on the selection panel, what methods would you use to identify these personal attributes in job applicants?

8. How do you think emotional, cognitive, and practical intelligence influence authentic leadership?

9. You hear two people debating the merits of women as leaders. One person claims that women make better leaders than do men because women are more sensitive to their employees' needs and involve them in organizational decisions. The other person counters that although these leadership styles may be increasingly important, most women have trouble gaining acceptance as leaders when they face tough situations in which a more autocratic style is required. Discuss the accuracy of the comments made in this discussion.

CASE STUDY: A WINDOW ON LIFE

Case Synopsis

Read the case study. LaCroix Industries in St. Jean, Quebec manufactures wood-framed windows. Gilles LaCroix, the company founder, continually reinforced the need to make quality windows because they provided "a window on life" for so many families. He consistently repeated this point by talking with all employees at every convenience. He began taking pictures of people looking through LaCroix windows and this led to the company's popular marketing campaign. LaCroix also actively involved employees in organizational decisions. Eventually, the company's continued success depended on expansion to other parts of the country, so a majority share was sold to Build-All Products, a conglomerate with international marketing expertise in building products. Build-All brought in Jan Vlodoski to oversee production while LaCroix met with developers around North America. Vlodoski was a less participative and more directive manager who tried to shift the emphasis from product quality to inventory cost efficiency. Inventory costs were reduced, but product rejects increased markedly during the first year. Employee morale dropped significantly and some people quit in spite of the poor labor market. After 18 months, LaCroix realized that Build-All's actions were inconsistent with his vision of the company, while Build-All was not sufficiently pleased with the company's return on equity (not quite the 18 percent required by Build-All). This company does not exist as described. It is a composite of a few situations that the author knows about, both in terms of the company's growth, experience following acquisition, and leadership of the founder.

Case Questions

1. Identify the symptoms indicating that problems exist at LaCroix Industries, Ltd.

2. Use one or more leadership theories to analyze the underlying causes of the current problems at LaCroix

Industries. What other organizational behaviour theories might also help to explain some of the problems?

3. What should Gilles LaCroix do in this situation?

Journal: Gender differences in Communication at the work place

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W_CBoEjRXA

1. Discuss why men and women are sometimes frustrated with each other's communication behaviors at work.