Emma is the president of the braces and support division of a pharmaceutical company. Her division develops, manufactures, and sells devices such as wrist, ankle, elbow, and back supports, plus knee and back supports that are sold by prescription only. The support devices are found in pharmacies, supermarkets, and department stores as well as online. One day, Emma was discussing how well she was performing as a leader with Jerald, the director of human resources. Jerald said: “We will review some of the multi-rater feedback with you. It appears to be consistent with some of the informal buzz I have heard about your leadership. Your direct reports like the strong leadership you bring to the division, but they think you play favorites.”

“How so?” said Emma.

Jerald replied, “Let’s look at some of the written comments on the online anonymous forms. I think they explain the rationale behind the comments about having favorites:

Direct Report A says that you are a kind and caring manager who always takes into account employees’ needs. When asked for time off to take care of a parent who was moving to assisted living, you granted three days of paid leave. When asked for some experience with data analytics, you found the right project.

Direct Report B says that you can be a little callous and indifferent. One time this employee suggested that hiring one more online sales support representative could boost sales by 20 percent. You flatly rejected this demand, saying there was no money in the budget for an additional hire.

Direct Report C says that you constantly praise our director of product development and design in meetings, both face-to-face and virtual. You talk as if that person were single-handedly responsible for the success of our division.

Direct Report D says that you ignore your employees. If someone tries to tell you something funny, you don’t even crack a smile. You are a good strategic leader, but you act like a zombie.”

Emma said to Jerald, “It is good to know that I am perceived to be an effective leader. Yet I find some of this feedback troubling. I thought that an effective leader was supposed to have different relationships with different people. How else can you deal with the reality that people are unique?”

1. After receiving the feedback from her direct reports, Emma thinks she may need to consider changes to her leadership and supervisory style. If you were Emma, which action would you take?

a. Choose different supervisory styles for each direct report based on their individual needs.

b. Immediately make the new hire requested by Direct Report B.

c. Follow directive and supportive leadership styles and treat all workers equally.

d. Continue to act the same way because she is perceived as effective by Direct Report A, with whom she has a very good relationship.