Respond to the following questions using APA format such that the responses are

Thorough

Accurate

Strongly connected to the course content of the week

Enhanced through the incorporation of at least TWO credible sources other than your textbook and are cited properly in APA format

no less than three typed pages in total. (APA title and reference pages do not count in your page total)

1. What are the strengths and limitations of democratic, autocratic, and laissez-faire styles of leadership? Describe your leadership style in terms of autocratic, laissez-faire, and/or democratic. Provide several examples to show how you use this style. Explain two strengths and one weakness of your leadership style.

2. Create an agenda for a meeting you recently took part in or a meeting you have coming up (work- or school-related). Feel free to make up details (or the meeting) as necessary. Prepare the agenda with agenda items, time frames, goals, roles, and materials needed.

3. Mini case study 1:

Kasper Rorsted, chief executive of Henkel, the consumer and industrial products company based in Dsseldorf, Germany, recently talked about the first time he had to be someone else's boss:

[I first became someone else's boss] in 1989, right when I got promoted from being a sales rep in the Digital Equipment Corporation to being a sales manager at the age of 27. I had about 20 people at that point in time. All but two of them were older than I was. When you're 27, you're inexperienced, so you don't know what to fear. I didn't know what I probably should have known. The first time I realized it was serious was when, after about six months, I had to lay somebody off. And then suddenly you move from the sunny side of the deal to the real deal. I remember I was sleeping very poorly for almost a week. He had a family. So one of the lessons I learned from that, which I've been very aware of since, is to be friendly, but not a friend. I had grown up in the company and I knew everybody, so I was more a friend. But then I had to start having honest conversations with people about how they performed, and that taught me a lesson. I've always been friendly but never been friends anymore. When we have parties, I'm the one who will leave early.37

Based on Rorsted's comments, answer the following questions:

A. What do you think Rorsted means that he could "be friendly, but not a friend" once he became a boss and had to have difficult conversations with others?

B. Do you agree with his perspective about being friendly versus being friends? Do you think being friends makes having honest conversations in the workplace more difficult? Explain.

C. How can a person prepare for the difficult conversations a boss or supervisor must have before they are ever the boss or the supervisor?

D. How can a person prepare for the difficult conversations a boss or supervisor must have when that person is the boss or the supervisor?

4. Mini case study #2

Barbara J. Krumsiek of the Calvert Group recently talked about the style of meetings that take place in her organization:

I think it can be a little jarring actually for people who are used to perhaps a little more civility. I think we're civil, but we're direct. I don't like meetings if my direct reports leave the room and turn to somebody and say, "Can you believe someone said that?" And so I try to explain to them by example that if you find yourself doing that when you leave the room, or shaking your head, or kicking yourself for not having said something, or thinking that there were real problems with what somebody said, next time you have to say it in the room. You have to, or you will not be the most impactful member of this team. When I first got to Calvert, there was a lot of that. And I had one of my direct reports send me an email, complaining about something somebody else said. I just got back to them and said, "I'm not going to read this because I don't see the person you're talking about CC'd on it. So if you CC them on it and send it back to me, I will deal with it." Well, I never had to get it back, because once the person really dealt with it, it was fine.

Based on Krumsiek's comments, answer the following:

A. What types of expectations are there for meetings at the Calvert Group? What are the strengths and weaknesses of these expectations? How well would you fit into this meeting environment? Explain.

B. What does Krumsiek say about the nature of directness and civility at meetings? Does this imply the meetings are not civil?

C. How does Krumsiek deal with complaints about other team members? Do you agree with this method? Why or why not? What conflict management style would you say this is?

D. What are at least two take-aways from Krumsiek's comments that you could possibly apply to the way you approach team communication?