Pearce Construction Management Report

Sarbjit Singh
Chair of the Board
Pearce Construction.
27 Dec 2018
PEARCE CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT REPORT.
Aim.
Pearce Constructions is currently falling behind its main competitors losing market share and
profits margins. This report will seek to
1. Evaluate the current management style.
2. Review current theories and their potential usefulness.
3. Plans for the development of leaders at Pearce Construction.
Current Management.
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The Chief Executive Officer Mr. Brain Pearce has a very autocratic style of management.
This style has seen Pearce Construction through its growth period and a few periods of
economic downturn. Mr Pearce currently only briefs the Board of Directors at their quarterly
meetings with full strategic planning being left under his sole direction.
Brain Pearce likes to have full control of all decision making then communicates these
decisions down to the various location managers. Having sole control of the entire decision-
making process reflects the autocratic style as highlighted by Huneryager and Heckman
(1967). This management style is defined as ‘’where decision-making is centralized in the
hands of the manager, who does not encourage participation by subordinates....Such a style
is frequently found today in professional firms...many of the most successful businesses have
been led to success by autocrats who are paternalistic leaders, offering consideration and
respect to the workforce.’’
It must be note that Mr Pearce does not apply any penalties, punish or threaten his staff;
however, he does not have confidence that they could operate without supervision.
Therefore, Huneryager and Heckman dictatorial management style, would not apply here.
With Mr Pearce having sole control, employees ideas are restricted; however, they are still
expected to meet commands and targets. Again, totally contrary to Huneryager and
Heckman’s democratic and laissez faire management styles which saw group participation by
employees and no sense of direction respectively. Actions, again which are totally contrary
to Mr Pearce management style.
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Figure: Type of leadership models by Huneryager and Heckman
There are four types of leadership models that can be implemented in an organization.
Those are Dictatorial, Autocratic, Democratic and laissez faire leadership styles.
Dictatorial leadership
In case of dictatorial leadership practices, the centralized decision is being made by
the manager of the company. In this style, the manager makes the ultimate decisions for
enforcing the subordinated1. Through threats and penalties, the manager forces on the
employees for performing their jobs effectively.
Autocratic leadership
In case of the Autocratic leadership practices, the decisions of the organization
depend on the leaders’ perspectives. Depending on the ability of the leaders, the ultimate
decision making process in the workplace gets influenced.
Democratic leadership
In case of democratic leadership style, all the subordinates are being involved in the
decision making process. Through this process, the decentralized decision making process is
1 Rosenbach, William E. Contemporary issues in leadership. Routledge, 2018.
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being introduced in the workplace. This process improved the ability of leaders for managing
the situations in the workplace.
Laissez faire
On the other hand, in case of laissez faire, the outcome of the project depends on the
decentralized decision making process. In this case, the inactive participation of both the
managers and employees are being shown.
Analyzing the current scenario in Pearce Construction, it can be said that the
Autocratic leadership practices are being followed in the workplace. By following the
autocratic leadership practices, Pearce wants to take the full control in the decision making
process so that the full control on the decision making process can be maintained. Analyzing
the situation, it can be concluded that having an autocratic behavioral characteristics of
Pearce purposes his own decision to the employees, which can be considered as the important
drawback of the company.
4s leadership style
There are four types of leadership styles that can be adopted by the management in
workplace, those are, exploitative authoritative style, benevolent authoritative style,
consultative style and participative style.
Exploitative authoritative
In case of exploitative authoritative style, the fear of punishment and top down
communication practices are being done.
Benevolent Authoritative style
In case of the benevolent authoritative style, the uses of rewards, little down feedbacks,
dominance of methods are being highlighted.
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Consultative style
In the consultative style, intensive feedbacks are being provided by the managers after the
completion of the discussion.
Participative style
On the other hand, in case of the participative style, the two ways of communication are
being developed. Here the feedbacks are openly being provided by the managers for
employee improvement.
An Mr Pearce also set targets for his managers which are linked to their pay and promotion,
the benevolent authoritative management style of Renisi Likert (1961). This style is defined
as ‘’the manager has only superficial trust in subordinates, imposes decisions, never
delegates, motivates by reward and, though sometimes involving others in problem solving,
is basically paternalistic.’’ This style shows Mr Pearce’s protective nature towards the
business to the point of smothering its development and growth. This has caused the
company’s revenue to fall by 20% and profits by 40% making it one of the worst performing
companies in its market sector. In that case, it can be concluded that it needs to focus on
improving its management practices so that both the internal and external situation in the
workplace can be improved. On the other hand, it is also true that depending on the practices
it will be easier for the company to manage the growth opportunities in the workplace.
Theory X and Theory Y
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Figure: McGregors Theory X and Theory Y
In the above diagram, the McGregors Theory X and Theory Y have been introduced,
which has been developed depending on the two aspects of human behavior. X represented
the negative and y represented the positive human aspects. In the assumption of theory X, the
employee instincts, towards not fulfilling the job responsibilities. It also reflects through the
rank of job security. On the other hand, in the assumptions of Y, all the positive perspectives
of employees are being highlighted. Job satisfaction, skills and abilities of employees are
being measured depending on the Y theory. In the below table, outline of the theory X and
theory Y have been discussed
Theory X Theory Y
Dislike to fulfill the job responsibilities Employee satisfaction increases
Only money becomes the motivational
thing for workers improvement
Responsibilities are properly accepted
by the employees
Constant supervision and monitoring
become necessary
Employee loyalty increases
(Created by author)
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