Jerry Lucas is the division director. As branch chief, Bob Sanford reports to Jerry Lucas. Bob Sanford has four section chiefs reporting to him.

Bob Sanford is technically competent, with extensive experience in solid rocket propulsion; he is also regarded as the best expert in this field. He is highly dedicated to his work, but inexperienced in managing technical people, as he has been on the job for only two years. Bob Sanford handles his subordinates quite roughly.

He reverses his section chiefs’ decisions without prior consultation with them. He demands that no information or data be transmitted to persons outside the group without his knowledge and concurrence. He also bypasses his section chiefs to go to people and encourages them to come to him directly with problems. Rumors have it that he places spies or informants within the group. As expected, he delegates no decision-making authority to his section chiefs and regards all of his section chiefs as technically incompetent. He creates an atmosphere of fear and suspicion, with low group morale.

Bob Sanford does not report to Jerry Lucas candidly on project progress and on difficulties he encounters. He does not understand his own responsibility of building teamwork, enhancing group morale, and creating employee satisfaction while achieving the goals of his group. He is lacking the skills and willingness to resolve conflicts within the group.

Finally, the section chiefs as a group go in to see Jerry Lucas and complain about the lack of authority and the oppressive atmosphere in the section.
What should Jerry Lucas do? I should note that this problem was condensed and adopted from Shannon (1980).