MGT115 - Management and Organisation

Tutorial 10

Part A

1. Define leaders and leadership.

2. Differentiate between formal and informal leadership

3. Discuss the seven traits associated with leadership.

4. Contrast the findings of the four behavioral leadership theories.

5. Explain situational leadership theory

6. Discuss how path-goal theory explains leadership.

7. Differentiate between transactional and transformational leaders.

8. Describe charismatic and visionary leadership.

9. Explain the five sources of a leader's power.

10. How can leaders build trust

Women Leaders in the Arab World: The case of Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi

It is tough to be a women leader in the Arab World? Ask Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi. In 2010, Sheikha Lubna, the minister of foreign trade of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), was voted the most powerful Arab woman by Forbes magazine. She was also ranked the 92nd most powerful Arab woman in the world in its 2012 annual list of the most influential females in politics, business, media and lifestyle. In 1999, Sheikha Lubna was awarded the coveted "Distinguished Government Employee Award" and was later appointed as the head of "Tejari", the Middle East's premier electronic business-to-business marketplace at its launch in 2000. The firm, now one of Dubai World's most successful units, has franchises across the Middle East. Prior to managing Tejari, Sheikha Lubna was the senior manager of the Information System Department at the Dubai Ports Authority (DPA) and Jebel Ali Free Zone, a position she held for more than seven years. She was appointed to her first ministerial post in November 2004, becoming Minister of Economy and Planning, before taking the Minister of Foreign Trade.' Sheikha Lubna believes in women leadership and wants to act as a role model for the younger generations in a country where more than three-quarters of students attending institutions of higher education and two-third of civil servants in the government sector are women. In the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states where 48

percent of the combined population of 36 million are women, the figures are even more compelling. Female participation in the economy of the GCC states stands at 19.2 percent only, or about one-fifth of the total work force. According to the Forbes profile, Sheikha Lubna is a regional power in her own right. The magazine said her pursuit of an open trade and economic diversification is helping put Dubai, whose economy suffered from the bursting of the property bubble in 2008, back on the road to recovery. Drawing on the success of Sheikha Lubna and other women leaders, the Arab world has made significant advances in furthering women's leadership. Nevertheless, compared to the rest of the world, the region has a long way to go, and there is considerable scope of improvement. An enabling environment and the change in the mentalities are important to advance the agenda of Arab women leaders and to allow for the development of future generations of aspiring women in the region. On a positive note, the likelihood of these changes taking place in the future is high as decision makers are aware that female business leaders in the Middle East seize opportunities for professional and societal advancement and that Arab women are at the forefront of an economic transformation throughout the Middle east, acting as agents of changes in business, government and society as a whole. Arab women now are more visible at every level in society and are demonstrating their leadership skills as executives across the region. There is an increasing awareness that the skills and talents of half the population have been underutilized for too long and that this should change. Women are key human resource whose potential has not been maximized. On a more negative note, women business leaders in the Middle East still face external challenges such as lack of financing, exclusion from informal business networks in which men operate, and the persistence of the old mentality that business is a male activity. Despite the numerous obstacles, women such as Sheikha Lubna and many others continue to move forward and pave the way to the next generations of Arab women leaders. Part B Discussion Questions

1. Describe the leadership style of Sheikha Lubna as she is seen by many other as a role model.

2. Why did Sheikha Lubna succeed where others have failed?

3. Do you see the future of women leadership in the Arab world as gloomy or bright? Why?

MGT115 - Management and Organisation

Tutorial 11

Part A

1. What is controlling and discuss the reasons why control is important.(5 marks)

2. Explain the planning-controlling link.(3 marks)

3. Describe the three steps in the control process.(6 marks)

4. Explain (with examples) feedforward, concurrent and feedback control(6 marks)

5. Explain 2 tools a manager can use to measure organizational performance(4 marks)

6. Explain the organisational measures that provide information about organisational performance(6 marks)

When all is said and done, which may not be for many years, it's likely to be one of the worst environmental disasters, if not the worst, in U.S. history. When British Petroleum's (BP) Deepwater Horizon off-shore rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded in a ball of flames on April 20, 2010, killing 11 employees, it set in motion frantic efforts to stop the flow of oil and to initiate the long and arduous cleanup process. Although the impacts of the explosion and oil spill were felt most intensely by businesses and residents along the coast and by coastal wildlife, those of us inland who watched the disaster unfold were also stunned and dismayed by what we saw happening. What led to this disaster and what can BP do to ensure that the likelihood of it ever happening again is minimized?

One thing that has come to light in the disaster investigation is that it's no surprise that something like this happened. After Hurricane Dennis blew through in July 2005, a passing ship was shocked to see BP's new massive $1 billion Thunder Horse oil platform "listing precariously to one side, looking for the entire world as if it were about to sink." Thunder Horse "was meant to be the company's crowning glory, the embodiment of its bold gamble to outpace its competitors in finding and exploiting the vast reserves of oil beneath the waters of the gulf." But the problems with this rig soon became evident. A valve installed backwards caused it to flood during the hurricane even before any oil had been pumped. Other problems included a welding job so shoddy that it left underwater pipelines brittle and full of cracks. "The problems at Thunder Horse were not an anomaly, but a warning that BP was taking too many risks and cutting corners in pursuit of growth and profits."

Then came the tragic explosion on the Deepwater Horizon. Before the rig exploded, strong warning signs indicated that something was terribly wrong with the oil well. Among the red flags were several equipment readings suggesting that gas was bubbling into the well, a potential sign of an impending blowout. Those red flags were ignored. Other decisions made in the 24 hours before the explosion included a critical decision to replace heavy mud in the pipe rising from the seabed with seawater, again possibly increasing the risk of an explosion. Internal BP documents also show serious problems and safety concerns with Deepwater. Those problems involved the well casing and blowout preventer. One BP senior drilling engineer warned, "This would certainly be a worst-case scenario."

The federal panel charged with investigating the spill has been examining 20 "anomalies in the well's behavior and the crew's response." The panel is also investigating in particular why "rig workers missed telltale signs that the well was close to an uncontrolled blowout."

Strong warning signs indicated serious problems with well equipment and other safety aspects of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, but a lack of effective controls needed to protect the rig as the employees' workplace resulted in a tragic explosion and oil spill.

Part B

Discussion Questions

1. What type(s) of controlfeedforward, concurrent, or feedbackdo you think would have been most useful in this situation? Explain your choice(s).(3 marks)

2. Using "The Control Process" diagram from the lecture notes, explain what BP could have done better.(3 marks)

3. Why do you think company employees ignored the red flags? How could such behavior be changed in the future?(2 marks)

4. What could other organizations learn from BP's mistakes?(2 marks)