Page 407 - Fundamentals of Management Myths Debunked (2017)_Flat

406 Part 4 • Leading
Skill Basics CMI is a large insurance company. In the headquarters of-
fice alone, where you’ll be working, there are more than 1,500
Simply put, leadership style can be categorized as task- or peo- employees. The company believes strongly in the personal
ple-oriented. Neither one is right for all situations. Although development of its employees. This belief translates into a phi-
a number of situational variables influence the choice of an losophy, emanating from the top executive offices, of trust and
effective leadership style, four variables seem most relevant: 70
respect for all CMI employees. The company is also regularly
• Task structure. Structured tasks have procedures and rules atop most lists of “best companies to work for,” largely due to
that minimize ambiguity. The more structured a job is, the its progressive work/life programs and strong commitment to
less need there is for a leader to provide task structure. minimizing layoffs.
• Level of stress. Situations differ in terms of time and per- In your new job, you’ll direct the activities of 18
formance stress. High-stress situations favor leaders with policy-renewal clerks. Their jobs require little training and
experience. Low stress favors a leader’s intelligence. are highly routine. A clerk’s responsibility is to ensure that
renewal notices are sent on current policies, to tabulate
• Level of group support. Members of close-knit and sup- any changes in premiums, to advise the sales division if a
portive groups help each other out. They can provide both policy is to be canceled as a result of nonresponse to renewal
task support and relationship support. Supportive groups notices, and to answer questions and solve problems related
make fewer demands on a leader. to renewals.
• Follower characteristics. Personal characteristics of fol- The people in your work group range in age from 19 to 62,
lowers—such as experience, ability, and motivation—in- with a median age of 25. For the most part they are high school
fluence which leadership style will be most effective. graduates with little prior working experience. They earn
Employees with extensive experience, strong abilities, and between $2,350 and $3,200 a month. You will be replacing a
high motivation don’t require much task behavior. They long-time CMI employee, Jan Allison. Jan is retiring after 37
will be more effective with a people-oriented style. Con- years with CMI, the past 14 spent as a policy-renewal supervi-
versely, employees with little experience, marginal abili- sor. Because you spent a few weeks in Jan’s group last summer,
ties, and low motivation will perform better when leaders you’re familiar with Jan’s style and are acquainted with most of
exhibit task-oriented behavior. the department members. But people don’t know you very well
and are suspicious of the fact that you’re fresh out of college
Practicing the Skill and have little experience in the department. The reality is that
you got this job because management wanted someone with
Read through this scenario and follow the directions at the end a college degree to oversee the department. Your most vocal
of it:
critic is Lillian Lantz. Lillian is well into her 50s, has been a
You recently graduated from college with your degree in busi- policy renewal clerk for over a dozen years, and—as the “grand
ness administration. You’ve spent the past two summers work- old lady” of the department—carries a lot of weight with group
ing at Connecticut Mutual Insurance (CMI), filling in as an members. You know that it’ll be very hard to lead this depart-
intern on a number of different jobs while employees took their ment without Lillian’s support.
vacations. You have received and accepted an offer to join CMI Using your knowledge of leadership concepts, which lead-
full time as supervisor of the policy renewal department. ership style would you choose? And why?

Preferred Bank Card, Inc. Experiential Exercise
To: Pat Muenks, VP Employee Relations
From: Jan Plemmons, Customer Service Director
About: Leadership Training

I agree completely with your recommendation that we need some suggestions for how we might present the information
a leadership training program for our customer service team in a way that would be interesting. We need to get started
leaders. These leaders struggle with keeping our customer ser- on this immediately, so please get this report to me by early
vice reps focused on our goal of providing timely, accurate, next week.
and friendly service to our bank card holders who call in with This fictionalized company and message were created for educational
questions or complaints. purposes only, and not meant to reflect positively or negatively on manage-
Put together a one-page proposal that describes the ment practices by any company that may share this name.
leadership topics you think should be covered. Also, give me