Leadership Exercises

These exercises have been used in various ways according to the needs (and creativity) of the tutor. The caselets are all based on actual events. We have been able to draw on feedback often from the leader, or someone with close knowledge of the case, to indicate how they might assess the statements. In classroom use, the results obtained from students can be used to build up a database of answers, and even to conduct some rough and ready research into the leadership maps of students and ‘informed participant observers’. However, we stress here are no absolute ‘right answers’, and the exercises should be used with this in mind.

One coding system.

Use ranks to indicate which statement seems most consistent with the issue being examined. Thus in exercise 1, if you think the statement

The leader did not know what to do, but concealed that from her employees

is most consistent with the case material, you would rank it 1. Try to avoid ties, so you will end up with rankings from 1 to 6 for each exercise. (One exercise has two parts, 2a and 2b).

EXERCISE 1 : PROJECT PHEONIX

One Saturday evening, a Chief Executive Officer stood helplessly by and watched her main manufacturing plant destroyed by fire. She was one of the first eyewitnesses of the scene. Within hours many of her employees had made their way to the site. There followed a weekend of round-the-clock efforts. By the following Monday morning, staff were operating from a mobile office shell, reassuring anxious customers they would be able to complete their orders. They did so by indicating the time they needed to complete the order. The commitment of the team transmitted itself to the customers, and not a single order was lost. The company has since gone from strength to strength.

Leadership assessments:

Assuming that the leader had played an important role in establishing a positive climate rate the following statements in terms of consistency with the information provided. Try to avoid ‘ties’. Give the rating 1 to the item you feel most matches the information supplied.

1 The leader had built the company through her imagination and creativity over a period of years

2 The leader had built the company through encouraging her employees and giving them a ‘can do’) sense when facing problems

3 The leader knew clearly what had to be done to rescue her company when she was faced with the fire and was able to communicate her confidence to her employees

4 The leader did not know what to do, but concealed that from her employees

5 The leader did not know what to do, and this was not concealed from her employees

6 The company had to promise things to suppliers and customers they did not know they could deliver

EXERCISE 2a and 2b : CHURCHILL’S DOUBLE

During the war of 1940-1945, the British leader Churchill had a ‘double’ whose role was to represent the great leader in many situations when his life could be in danger from assassination. To put the double in place, a search was made for someone with Churchill’s general physical shape and size. The double could fool anyone in a photograph or newsreel. He was trained to imitate the well-known Churchillian mannerisms, gesturing with a cigar, and proffering the famous ‘V for victory’ sign. As the plan was being worked out, there were doubters that it could work in practice. Churchill was believed to be unique, and his charisma unmistakable.

Your judgment of the following statements depends on your understanding of charisma as a property of an individual, or a property of a relationship between the individual and a social group. Rank the statements for your support of them (a) if you take an individual view;

(b) if you take a relational (sense-making) view.

1 The double fooled everyone in brief newsreels

2 The double fooled everyone at a distance with his acting out Churchill’s public persona

3 When the double walked into a room, everyone immediately ‘felt’ the arrival of an exceptional personality through recognition of shared ‘cues’ and association with shared beliefs

4 When the double walked into a room, everyone could see that Churchill’s charisma was missing

5 When the double walked into a room, only close family and acquaintances could see that Churchill’s charisma was missing in the individual actor

6 The plan was adequate for its intended purposes of presenting an image through a few symbolic actions that were well-known social cues indicating the presence of Churchill

EXERCISE 3 THE EMPLOYEE WHO GOT IT WRONG

Mark is head of a company manufacturing food additives. He believes deeply in motivation by encouragement. One day a crisis occurred which stretched his natural inclinations to breaking point.

He had arrived on plant to see progress on a batch of product for an important customer. The work team stood around looking rather guiltily at him as he approached the mixer. ‘All right then?’ he asked. But he knew it was not ‘all right’.

After some hesitation, the most inexperienced member of the team muttered something. Mark asked him to repeat it. ‘It’s ruined. I used the wrong measure and the mix is hundred times too concentrated.’ Mark calculated that the batch could not be rescued, and the mistake would cost more that a year’s wages for the unfortunate employee in materials alone. Based on your reading of the case, what happened next?

1 Mark told the team to concentrate on producing a batch to specification at top speed, to make amends for the individual mistake

2 Mark told the team to concentrate on producing a batch to specification at top speed to make amends for mistake the team made in not catching the mistake of the junior member

3 Mark showed the urgency of the situation by a justifiable display of anger, and then told the team to concentrate on producing a batch to specification at top speed

4 Mark made a visible display of appreciating the honesty of the employee, which made it easier for the company to recover from the mistake

5 Mark made a visible display of appreciating the honesty of the employee, then took the junior aside and warned him he would be in trouble if he was not more careful in future

6 Mark told the team ‘you mucked it up, you sort it out, we’ve probably got until their van arrives to collect the batch’.

EXERCISE 4: NEUTRON JACK

Jack Welch was for some decades lauded as one of the century’s great leaders for his efforts as leader of General Electric (GE). The company was cited in the book by Collins and Perris identifying companies that were ‘built to last’. He was later criticized and doubts cast on his achievements.

Welch rose up the ranks of GE after being ‘rescued’ from leaving by a Vice President at headquarters. While his performance displayed outstanding energy and professionalism, he was considered by some to be too results-driven, and stayed off the short list of candidates for the top job. However, the incumbent leader aware of the decline and possible demise of the company saw the need for a revolutionary successor and appointed Welch.

As CEO, Welch acted vigorously, and laid-off 120,000 employees in three years. He restructured and eliminated businesses that did not meet his criteria of being profitable and core (with scope for ‘new hi-tech businesses). He also removed 80% of headquarters staff and replacing them with a majority he could trust. This era created a cash-rich and profitable company, able to invest in innovation. A second era consolidated, and streamlined operations in a ‘vigorous’ way with more staff reductions, reduced job security, performance-based bonuses. After decades of success the company faced a post-Welch era at a time when the growth and profits were slowing down. In interviews at the time Welch declared that the new conditions called for a more humanistic approach. His legendary concern for performance was coupled to concepts of commitment, empowerment, and personal growth for achievers and replacement of non-achievers. Welch presented himself as someone who had learned the benefits of taking human relationships into account. However, his behaviours internally retained his former ruthlessness. He forced through the appointment of a loyal supporter, Jeff Immelt and prompted fired the two other leading candidates. Immelt spent much of his first years distancing himself and his policies from those of his predecessor. The media, once so positive, began to run stories associating a decline in GE’s fortunes to unacceptable behaviours emerging in Welch’s private and business activities.

Your leadership assessments based on the case information

1 Welch achieved a revolution on the fortunes of GE through creating change, in ways that were much admired at the time

2 The situation at GE in those years made the strategy followed inevitable, and ‘created’ the legend of Welch

3 Other leaders would have been capable of producing similar results

4 After the initial ‘revolution’ a different, more humanistic leadership was needed at GE

5 Welch espoused the need for such changes while retaining many aspects of his earlier task-oriented style

6 Welch eventually appeared to be suffering from ‘success fatigue’ and was insufficiently aware of the impact of his beliefs on the continued success of the company

SWEDISH RHAPSODY

A large pharmaceutical company learned that a major product was to be admitted into the US market. The increased demand could not be handled in the US, and the challenge was given top priority to the production facility in Sweden. This amounted to a rapid expansion in production of product by 280%. The process engineering view was that maximum capacity would only produce at extra 200%. The production director negotiated a target of 240% with his top management and set up cross-functional teams in the first week. These teams of process and validation engineers, medicinal chemists, and production technicians and He believed this would produce creative ways of reaching the target, (although believed undoable at first) whereas 280% together with the brief timescale would ‘cause panic’. The teams showed considerable skills at harnessing informal networks, and the 240% challenge was achieved in the timescale, with a great sense of achievement. It later was found adequate. (The leader still believed that the called-for 280% was impossible technically in the timescale required).

Assess the factors that influenced the outcome of the leadership challenge

1 The leader had enough technical knowledge to make an assessment of production capacity

2 The leader was prepared to challenge the judgments of his technical experts

3 The leader risked a compromise between the requests from the US and his own judgment

4 Success was due to the charismatic style of the leader

5 Success was due to the stretching the team, setting a clear goal that triggered creativity not panic

6 Success was due to the emergence of ‘non-standard’ working practices such as cross-functional teams

RATINGS CODE

The case examples were examined by ‘participant observers’ or other leadership experts. Their assessments should be taken not as ‘best practice’, but benchmarks. Students have a chance to reflect on why they reached rather different rankings.