Leadership in the Public Sector

Read the extract below and answer ALL the questions in this section. Leading During Challenging Times How can an airline survive a government order to ground its entire fleet and shut down for days? After 9/11, all U.S. airlines were faced with this same crisis. One that succeeded through the difficulty was Southwest Airlines, already known for its outstanding customer service. Southwest's passengers, flight attendants, pilots and ground crews were stranded all across the country after the terrorist attacks.

Unlike their competition, Southwest's leadership did more than just sit and wait. They encouraged employees to leverage their trademark fun approach to business and to help stranded customers enjoy themselves at the movies or the local bowling alley. And when the ramifications of the shutdown forced other airlines to cut staff, Southwest's then-CEO, James Parker, announced just three days after 9/11 that the company would be keeping all of its employees, as well as issuing a profit-sharing payment.

Leadership characteristics like crisis management, creative problem-solving and a strong belief in the company's vision saw Southwest through this unimaginable situation. The CEO also protected his staff, which ultimately led to a stronger airline. Outstanding business managers can take a potentially disastrous situation and not only prevent it from becoming worse, but turn it into a positive outcome for the company. A leader uses a variety of leadership traits when taking an organization through turbulence

Source: https://www.notredameonline.com/resources/leadership-and-management/how-leaders-emerge-duringchallenging- times/#.W2IQ-NUzZdh

Question 1 (25 Marks)

Based on the abstract above, evaluate the leadership characteristics that are required to sustain an organization during challenging times.

• You are expected to evaluate the leadership characteristics based on the contemporary South African organisations challenging times.
• You are to show their understanding of the content.

The structure should be as follow: Introduction Discussion Conclusion References

Question 2 (25 Marks)

Analyse the efforts by the CEO to motivate the employees during difficult times, and critically examine the guidelines for generating motivated employee behaviour.

• You are expected to answer this question analytically based on their understanding of the content.
• The guidelines examined should be in line with the provided information.

The structure should be as follow: Introduction Discussion Conclusion References

Question 3 (25 Marks)

Critically discuss the lessons on leadership, innovation and organisational effectiveness that can be drawn from the above Southwest Airlines abstract.

• Inline text referencing required

The structure should be as follow: Introduction Discussion Conclusion References

Question 4 (25 Marks)

In view of the above Southwest's abstract, assess how leadership differs from management.

• Inline text referencing required

The structure should be as follow: Introduction Discussion Conclusion References