Lizbeth Mondragon Prof. Rubino MGT360 Case Study 2/ Devil Wears Prada 1. If I was in the position of Miranda, the position of previously having one of the best, if not the best, assistants that I have ever had, and seen that Andy was not like the previous assistants yet still manage to surpass them; I would rethink about simply hiring the next fashion obsessed young lady. Andy had many traits that allowed her to excel and would distinguish her from many candidates. One trait that I would look for in a new assistant is his or her conscientiousness. Andy was a very responsible, dependable, and careful person. She focused on her commitments and tasks with little regard of her personal life. She dove into her new job and made that her priority. She was on a mission of self-improvement and wanted to prove to herself, and the people there, that she was good enough. She shows her conscientiousness when she is asked to attend an evening event on the same night as her boyfriend's birthday. She sadly has to miss his birthday but helps Miranda throughout the night. Being a conscientious employee would be at the top of my list for personal traits carried by my employees. Secondly, a beautiful trait that Andy carried was her agreeableness. She was always good-natured, cooperative, and trusting. When she found out that Miranda might be retired she was whole-heartedly trying to warn her, which shows a level of love she has for people's feelings. She was always trying to get along with her peers and she genuinely cared about their feelings. Having an agreeable employee would benefit all the people in the workspace. Lastly, seeing that Andy wasn't a fashion industry pursuant herself, I would realize that being a good assistant to a fashion editor and being knowledgeable in fashion don't go hand in hand. Simply having an employee who is open to experience is what matters. Andy was curious and very open to the new doors that were opening for her, she was comfortable with change and grasped new things very quickly. When she decided to truly invest her heart and soul into her work she got a makeover and drastically started changing her level of success in the company. The world is constantly changing and when someone isn't open to experience they will never improve the workplace. Open to experience is a very important trait to have in any 2. workplace. In my opinion, Andy experienced person-organization misfit; although she is a highly skilled, hardworking, and quick learning individual, she started Runway without truly caring or understanding the purpose and importance of it. She definitely met the qualifications of the job but the culture she was immerse she was like nothing she had experienced before. A few examples from the film where we see job-organization misfit are: how she was in complete awe of how people just did anything and everything Miranda asked for. They were scrambling like chickens with their heads cut off when they got the call that Miranda was on the premise. When she first started her job she didn't understand why wardrobe was so important, she felt as if it didn't matter. It was overwhelming for her to be in such a high class environment. Daily, Miranda arrived at the office and threw her coat and bag on Andy's desk and she was not accustomed to waiting on anyone's hand and foot, especially someone who doesn't acknowledge your hard work. Miranda soon transitioned into this new, fast3. paced industry but it was a difficult thing to do. Job attitudes is directly related to both stress and behavior; it has an effect on work attendance and turnover. If the job attitude is dissatisfaction, there will be negative behavior in return because employee loyalty will decline. Like in the movie, Miranda was only able to keep assistants for as long as two weeks, due to stress and job dissatisfaction. Miranda had a habit of causing a lot of stress to all of her employees which creates negative job attitudes. Miranda did not know that with the correct levels of stress we can create positive performance. Throughout the film, Andy's job attitude changed. In the early stages of employment with Runway she hit a weak point because she was not feeling valued and was constantly feeling overstressed. Miranda was not giving her any help or support through her daily tasks (quality of supervision) and it seemed as if the work itself was way too demanding. One of her co-workers gave her some words of encouragement and she made an 180-degree change. Andy decided to take the stress that Miranda was giving her a made it a challenge, which in turn changed her behavior. Once Miranda saw all that Andy was doing she gave her opportunities. She took her to London and Andy was finally changing from being dissatisfied with her job to being satisfied with her job, for a moment. Andy ultimately realized that, although she was a big hit for the job, she did 4. not want to continue her life with that job. Being a leader is more than just telling people what to do. Miranda was not a good leader in my books because a leader is supposed to inspire others to work hard but she only achieved that by giving them fear of losing their job. Miranda was always very broad with her vision and did not communicate a clear goal for the future. Using the House's Path-Goal Leadership Theory we can see that Miranda was ineffective because she did not show any of directive leadership since she was too broad in her demands and never allowed questions after her demands. For example: Miranda told Andy to get her some Calvin Klein skirts and she didn't specify anything. Miranda also never showed any supportive leadership because she made life HELL for all of her employees and never treated them as equals. Miranda never excursive Participatory leadership because she felt as if she was the queen and no one else's opinion mattered. Depending on how you achievement-oriented leadership, you can say that she either did or didn't achieve this. I believe she did not because most of her tasks were outrages like when Andy was given the impossible task of finding a flight for Miranda to get back to New York, Miranda belittled her the following day since she was unable to, though she tried everything, find a flight for Miranda due to a hurricane. Using this theory, you choose with leadership view you will use depending on the situation and I feel like Prada could learn a lot from following this model. Using the Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Model we can also see that Miranda has been an ineffective leader. Delegating: She never delegated with anyone, she always had full control and the final say was always hers. Participating: She never promoted people to participate or share their ideas. Miranda always changed her mind on certain pages of the magazine and expected people to comply because she was the boss. Selling: She never explained her requests further and made many requests as if the world revolved around her. Miranda always demanded multiple things at once, even when it was Andy's first day of work. Miranda never explained to her how to get a hold of a certain person and yet she expected her to know everything. Telling: She never supervised any tasks and expected high results, as when she asked for the skirts without any details and expected Andy to know what she wanted. Miranda could 5. definitely learn from this leadership model. Prada can definitely benefit from the acquired needs theory that we all have three needs: achievement, power, and affiliation. The need for achievement is the wish to become a better employee and to be able to help out using your skills. Andy, like many people, is a high-need achiever, which means that she needs goals that are challenging but doable, she also appreciates feedback on her completed tasks, and also needs individual responsibility to show that she is capable of doing things on her own. The need for power is the wish to be able to influence and be responsible for other people. Andy would not only make a great leader but it would motivate her to have a group of people she must supervise and have to motivate them herself. Lastly, the need for affiliation is the wish to have good relations amongst your co-workers. Prada can really benefit from this theory because creating a healthy environment for affiliation will make people look forward to there jobs