Case Study: Knowing How to Be a Leader
Tim and Don are both managers at an IT firm. They both graduated at the top of their class and have worked many years providing IT support, programming, and development before working as managers. Tim's employees tend to be happier, have higher rates of job satisfaction, and low rates of employee absenteeism, illness, and turnover. Don has a very difficult time keeping his staff motivated and has an even harder time trying to keep his team together. There is a great deal of turnover and Don has a very difficult time hiring people to fill those vacancies. Leaving his team to work understaffed/ The morale on Tim's team is very high, while on Don's team the morale is very low. Both teams have the same projects to work on and each employee has the skills and experience to achieve the tasks, yet one team is excelling while the other is failing.
Problem 1: Based on your studies thus far, highlight why you think there is a difference amongst these two teams?
Problem 2: What do you think the difference is between Tim and Don as managers?
Problem 3: Explain how ethical and moral leadership may help this situation.
Problem 4: Using Kotter's strategy, how will you implement a change in Don's team to boost morale and subsequently, productivity?