University Case Study: Effective Management Principles and Leadership

This case study analyzes a scenario involving Frank Piechowski, a plant manager facing challenges related to accommodating Muslim Somali refugees' prayer rituals while maintaining production efficiency. The paper delves into the levels of management, identifying Piechowski as a middle-level manager, and examines his management style within the context of behavioral management theory. It highlights the complexities of balancing religious accommodations with workflow demands and the importance of adhering to the Civil Rights Act. The analysis suggests that Piechowski should adopt a transformational leadership style, implement proactive planning, foster compassion and coordination among employees, and provide training and development opportunities. The recommendations focus on changes in policies, such as break schedules, to facilitate religious practices and improve overall organizational effectiveness and production output. The study emphasizes the need for communication, collaboration, and efficient resource management to achieve increased production at a minimal cost.

Running head: EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLE
EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLE
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
This paper aims to observe minutely the situation presented in the case, analyze the
situational complicacies faced by the management then suggest proper ways or strategies
using which they can get rid of the present problem. The paper is going to discuss the
effective way of dealing with the sunset prayers by Frank Piechowski, the plant manager.
Form the analysis of the whole scenario presented in the case; it can be concluded that Frank
Piechowski, through the adoption of a transformational leadership style, bringing changes in
policies as well as the perceptual behaviour of the people, will be able to achieve the goal.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Level of Manager...................................................................................................................3
Analysis of the situation and Frank’s Management style:.....................................................4
Recommendations......................................................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Management plays a vital role in ensuring the achievement of goals through proper
utilization of different resources, supervision of all activities, and policies. It ensures the
efficient handling of the situations as well as the challenges involved in it. This paper is
going to discuss one of such challenging situations faced by Frank Piechowski, the plant
manager of a manufacturing plant. In the following section, this paper is going to identify
which kind of manager Piechowski is considering his role and what kind of management
strategies he should take to get rid of the present problems faced by him in respect to the
case.
Discussion
Levels of Managers
The effective management of any organization plays a vital role in its development
and growth through proper action plan considering the goal as well as directing the people to
achieve those goals with efficient utilization of different resources. The managers are
responsible for the management of different kinds of activities. According to these distinct
levels of responsibilities, the managers are also divided. There are mainly three levels of
management, top, middle and first or front line. Top-level managers are those who are
responsible for making plans to make a decision and set goals for the entire organization. It is
the top body of the management and includes CEO, MD, president, vice-president, chairman
of the board. The middle-level manager is the one who comes after as well as responsible for
achieving the goals set by the top management. These managers might be called as
department head, plant or division manager, these managers may supervise a small group or a
large group of employees such as an entire business unit. These managers are responsible for
managing as well as assisting the actions of first-line managers. Middle managers are

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responsible for setting goals, make department-level decisions concerning the marketing,
human resource planning, manufacturing or services with control over the maximum
workforce. Piechowski also here performs the role of as a plant manager of a manufacturing
plant who has received the command from the vice-president or the top management to hire
additional 40 temporary workers to get increased production at the lowest cost. He is also
responsible for making the decision regarding the changes as well as the implementation of
policies for the welfare of the workforce. Whereas, the first-line managers belong to the
lowest level of management and they are directly involved with the production or creation of
products. From the analysis of the responsibilities of Piechowski, it can be said that he is a
middle-level manager.
Analysis of the situation and Frank’s Management style:
As it is mentioned in the case, Frank Piechowski is the plant manager of a refrigerator
production plant, who has received the command from the top management to recruit
additional 40 temporary workers required to sustain in a highly competitive market with
reduced production cost as the competition is mainly in pricing. It can be ensured through
hiring the people who will be willing to work hard at an affordable wage. That is the reason
for Frank’s as well as the organization is relying on contingent workers without promoting
the ranks of existing ones. The problem of Frank is that the maximum of the new hires going
to be the Muslim Somali refugees (Roembach-Clark, 2009). The challenge is their Muslim
faith, which requires the observers to perform the praying rituals five times during a day.
Frank is pleased with the work of Somalis already existing working in the assembly line. He
has established a good relationship with these Somali people. Frank also implemented some
changes to meet the requirements of Somalis. He has changed the menu in the cafeteria
according to the dietary restrictions of these workers as well as approved the women to wear
their traditional clothing as long as the safety standard is not violated. After getting informed

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that Somalis requires to perform at least some of the ceremonial washing and prayers, which
they used to do five times a day in the working hour, he also arranged for a quiet, clean room
where they would be able to observe their 15 minutes rituals during their breaks and at
sunset. However, with the influx of 40 more people, it would be disruptive to the smooth
workflow as it is going to dramatically increase the number of people who requires leaving
the line to pray to disrupt the procedure (Samson, Donnet & Daft, 2018).
In comparison to the midday and afternoon rituals, the Muslim faithful had
considerably less flexibility to their sunset prayers. As a manager or employer, Frank should
provide sufficient accommodations for his employees to perform their rituals; otherwise it
will cause the unjustified hardship on the employer as per Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
(Chamallas, 2014). As a manager, one requires to care for every individual irrespective of
the customs. The manager also requires ensuring the service to the leaders, peers. The
managers are responsible for promoting a successful environment for co-workers and staff. A
manager must listen to the requirements of all people concerned for the development of the
organization including management, peers as well as the employees. He must have the ability
to make or bring changes according to the requirements of workers.
Moreover, the managers are responsible for giving proper training, supervision,
effectively communicate, reinforce as well as implement the changes that need to bring in
(Bos‐Nehles, Van Riemsdijk & Kees Looise, 2013). Plant managers are responsible for
implementing as well as enforcing the changes in the policies as well as procedures. The
Plant managers are responsible for reviewing the production rates, the way the plant is
meeting as well as the way it can excel its standards (Liebstuckel, 2014). In respect to these
qualities as well as responsibilities, Frank has established himself as an efficient plant
manager. Due to the extreme competition concerning the pricing within the industry, the
company is concerned about minimizing the cost by reducing the wage rate as well as

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increase the production. As a plant manager, Frank is also playing his role through
implementing the Somalis, the refugees who are willing to work for a certain time in the
medium standard of wage payment. According to the behavioural management theory,
human behaviour are influenced with the satisfaction of interpersonal needs. The behavioural
science theory with Maslow’s Hierarchy Needs theory identifies that employees get
motivated by factors,such as social needs, conflicts and self-actualization. Managers are
responsible for providing respect, sufficient space as well as the facilities to live according to
their lifestyle and religious norms (Yusuf & bin Bahari, 2015). Frank also provided these
facilities by arranging a specific quiet and clean place. The managers are required to maintain
a healthy relationship with the peoples through communicating, ensuring the welfare of the
workers, which is done well by Frank, who took the initiative to accommodate the religious
norms of the sunset prayers with coordination of their spokesperson Halima Adan. Now as
per the assumption of Frank about the increase number of Somalis going to possess a new
problem in the smooth workflow. To avoid this consequence Frank required adopting
efficient leadership style as well as bringing changes in the policies such as planning the
break time to make them able to pray during the break times; must inform the exiting one
about the changes as well as the workers of different religion must be convinced to cooperate
with the organization.
Conclusion
From the above observation, it can be concluded that Frank Piechowski, as a plant
manager, is doing well through performing his responsibilities according to the situational
demand. Frank has already implemented the changes in terms of the arrangement of place for
conducting their rituals as well as in the menu of cafeterias, which has already set the
perception of all the employees. To get rid of the complicacies in the coming times, Frank is
required to feel the needs of certain changes, whether in breaking schedules or in other

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policies with the adoption of the transformational leadership approach. Through establishing
the coordination, communication among the employees from different religions as well as
facilitating the training and development methods managers will be able to reinforce the
smooth operation as well as production within the organization. Thus with the utilization of
efficient leadership attributes Frank can achieve the goal of increased production at minimum
cost.
Recommendations
To efficiently manage all the resources such as financial, human as well as materials
and ensure the growth of the organization, Frank needs to bring some changes to the policies
as well as the human perceptions existing within the plant through adopting effective
leadership styles. These are mentioned below:
 To get rid of the present situation, Frank, as a leader, is required to be
proactive as well as do efficient planning in resourcing the efficient employees
to avoid the wastage in terms of any faults.
 Frank must adopt the approach of compassion as well as coordination among
the employees, both existing as well as the coming ones, making them aware
of the changes he is going to bring in the overall system of work and the level
of expectation from them (Lachman, 2016).
 Frank should initiate proper training as well as coaching for employees to act
as per the expectation with ensured standards.
 Frank must adopt a transformational leadership approach to bring the changes
(Nanjundeswaraswamy & Swamy, 2014).

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References
Bos‐Nehles, A. C., Van Riemsdijk, M. J., & Kees Looise, J. (2013). Employee perceptions of
line management performance: applying the AMO theory to explain the effectiveness
of line managers' HRM implementation. Human resource management, 52(6), 861-
877.
Chamallas, M. (2014). Two Very Different Stories: Vicarious Liability Under Tort and Title
VII Law. Ohio St. LJ, 75, 1315.
Lachman, V. D. (2016). Compassion fatigue as a threat to ethical practice: Identification,
personal and workplace prevention/management strategies. Medsurg Nursing, 25(4),
275.
Liebstuckel, K. (2014). Plant maintenance with SAP: practical guide. Galileo.
Nanjundeswaraswamy, T. S., & Swamy, D. R. (2014). Leadership styles. Advances in
management, 7(2), 57.
Roembach-Clark, C. (2009). Hope celebrates earth week.
Samson, D., Donnet, T., & Daft, R. (2018). Fundamentals of Management [6th Asia-Pacific
Edition]. Cengage.
Yusuf, M. Y., & bin Bahari, Z. (2015). Islamic corporate social responsibility in Islamic
banking: Towards poverty alleviation. Ethics, Governance and Regulation in Islamic
Finance, 73.