Leadership in Contemporary Organizations: Case Study Analysis

This report analyzes the leadership dynamics within the COMNET IT organization, focusing on the case study "When the bell no longer tolls." It examines the leadership styles of Kevin Jones and Johan, highlighting their approaches, strategies, and the context in which they operated. The report assesses the successes and failures of their leadership, considering the impact of power, influence, politics, and organizational culture. It delves into the influence of personality, behavior, and emotional intelligence on leadership effectiveness. Furthermore, the report identifies contradictions in the leaders' intentions, actions, and behaviors, providing additional insights that positively or negatively influenced leadership outcomes. Finally, it offers recommendations for improving the leadership capabilities within COMNET, drawing conclusions based on the case study's findings and relevant academic literature.

Leadership in Contemporary
Organizations

Executive Summary
Leadership is an important attribute for managing the organizational work and initiate
the action, providing motivation, offering direction, building a positive work environment
and introduction of changes. The report has focused on leadership approaches functions and
features as well as behaviour presented in the case study-named ‘When the bell no longer
tolls'. The leadership approach used by Kevin after joining the COMNET was based on the
results. This kind of approach has supported the organization to work on mutual goals and
maintain the coordination by focusing on the objectives that could help in the success of the
organization. As per finding of the case, Johan has never worked in the sales industry and
never led the team of such large numbers. This kind of lack of knowledge has influenced the
operational quality and communication among the staff members to meet the organizational
goals.
The leadership behaviour of Kevin was influenced by the collective culture approach
to lead the organization but lack of control and monitoring has affected the whole leadership
and outcome for the COMNET. According to the analysis of the case study, Kevin was
having unusual behaviour as no interaction with the staff. It was the responsibility of Kevin to
manage the situation and encourage the staff members to maintain the coordination and work
for the mutual objectives. Effective communication plays a vital role in the leadership and
management of the operations. The listening to people will give knowledge about the
intention and thought the approach of the team to make the changes in the existing plan.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................1
LEADERSHIP STYLE, APPROACH AND STRATEGY.......................................................1
SUCCESSES AND FAILURES OF THE LEADERSHIP STYLE, APPROACH AND
STRATEGY...............................................................................................................................2
RELEVANCE OF DIFFERENT ASPECTS.............................................................................2
Power......................................................................................................................................2
Influence.................................................................................................................................3
Politics....................................................................................................................................3
Culture....................................................................................................................................3
RELEVANT CHARACTERISTICS THAT INFLUENCING LEADERSHIP........................3
Personality..............................................................................................................................3
Behaviour...............................................................................................................................4
Emotional intelligence...........................................................................................................4
Other characteristics...............................................................................................................4
CONTRADICTIONS IN INTENTION, ACTION AND BEHAVIOUR OF THE LEADER..5
ADDITIONAL INSIGHTS ON LEADERSHIP AND OUTCOME.........................................5
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVING LEADERSHIP CAPABILITIES.....................6
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................1
APPENDIX................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Leadership refers to the process of encouraging and influencing people and
subordinates in a manner that help to achieve the group objectives and support to maintain
the energetic environment. Leadership is an important attribute for managing the
organizational work and initiate the action, providing motivation, offering direction, building
a positive work environment and introduction of changes. The report will focus on leadership
approaches functions and features as well as behaviour presented in the case study-name
‘When the bell no longer tolls'. This case study is based on leadership crisis and processes
used at COMNET IT organization in Australia and Kevin Jones was the leaders of the
company. The report will analyze the relevance of power, influence, culture and politics that
have affected the leadership at the organization. The report will also offer detail information
about the additional insights that have positively or negatively affected the leadership and
provide recommendations for further improvement.
LEADERSHIP STYLE, APPROACH AND STRATEGY
According to the analysis of the case study, the leadership style used by Kevin to
manage the business operations of the COMNET organization was democratic. After joining
the company in Australia, Kevin has contacted Johan who was become sick and led the
organization through the support of Kevin. As he has discussed everything with Johan as he
was his good friend and he can trust him to manage the operations of the organization (Yasir,
& Mohamad, 2016). According to this leadership style, the leader has encouraged the team
members and directed them to perform the tasks and made the end decisions by listening to
them. The key principles that followed by Kevin using this kind of leadership involve the
install mutual respect, free-flow of ideas, participation in decision making and sharing of the
responsibility among the staff members of COMNET (Maak, Pless, & Voegtlin, 2016).
The leadership approach used by Kevin after joining the COMNET was based on the
results. This kind of approach has supported the organization to work on mutual goals and
maintain the coordination by focusing on the objectives that could help in the success of the
organization. Johan was playing the part of a leader as Kevin was not presented at the office.
Therefore, result-oriented leadership has helped to manage the operations and monitor the
approach of the people. Apart from that, the leadership strategy that acted out in the given
case study involves the collective capabilities (Ding et al., 2017). According to this, strategy,
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Johan and Kevin have made collective efforts to develop the plan for managing the problems
and activities to adapt the changes in the business environment. This strategy has helped to
manage daily operational activities without interruption.
SUCCESSES AND FAILURES OF THE LEADERSHIP STYLE,
APPROACH AND STRATEGY
The leadership style, approach and strategy that used by the COMNET top
management has helped to engage the staff members in work at the initial stage and
considered the ideas and suggestions of the core team members to achieve the goals.
However, the leadership style has created a conflict of interest as people were not liking to
interfere with Johan in their work. The lack of coherence and communication of information
related to the decisions and client management functions was affecting the process of
employees. Apart from that, Johan has never worked in the sales industry and never led the
team of such large numbers (Shanafelt, & Noseworthy, 2017). This kind of lack of
knowledge has influenced the operational quality and communication among the staff
members to meet the organizational goals. However, it was learning rope for the Johan to
understand the work ethics according to Australian standards and manage the IT operation as
per the demand. According to analysis, this kind of strategy was a complete failure for the
organization and created issues.
In addition to this, the approach that used for leadership and managing the operations
has also backfired on leadership as the implementation of sudden changes in the business
operations and pressure of declining share of the parent company has influenced the approach
that used by the Kevin and Johan to run the operations (Le Fevre, & Robinson, 2015). During
this time, the employers also become frustrated by seeing the manager head down.
RELEVANCE OF DIFFERENT ASPECTS
The relevance of different aspects will be identified considering the data of the case
study:
Power
The leadership of Kevin or Johan was not such power that could influence the staff
members of the COMNET Australia. The senior staff members were not taking any
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initiatives or supporting the decision making of the leaders considering the external business
environmental condition of COMNET. The head-down gesture of Kevin has created a sense
of negativity and uncertainty in the working environment (Holten, & Brenner, 2015). Johan
was extrovert and look to team members positive but the approach of Kevin was introvert
which affected the power of leadership.
Influence
There was less influence of Kevin leadership on business operations of the COMNET
organization. For example, his approach was introvert and not providing any inspiration to
the staff members of the company. Another manager was also taking initiatives to manage the
impact of crisis but lack of powerful presence and influence over the staff members of the
company the leadership of Kevin was not successful.
Politics
The workplace of COMNET organization was started falling into politics related to
leadership and affecting the image of the leaders as Kevin was not able to manage the
operations. For example, non-verbal communication and secret talks between the senior staff
members of COMNET was a big threat for Kevin (Mikkelson, York, & Arritola, 2015).
Culture
The culture of the organization was good and energetic before the crisis occurred at
the parent company and COMNET. The leadership behaviour of Kevin was influenced by the
collective culture approach to lead the organization but lack of control and monitoring has
affected the whole leadership and outcome for the COMNET (Hurduzeu, 2015).
RELEVANT CHARACTERISTICS THAT INFLUENCING
LEADERSHIP
Personality
The personality of an individual has a significant impact on the leadership approach
and decision making. According to the analysis of the case, Kevin has an introvert personality
and was able to list the staff members as well as more likely to make the appropriate changes
in the business. However, Kevin was failed to use advantages of personality to maintain
positive leadership and develop strong social connections (Fiaz, Su, & Saqib, 2017). The lack
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of communication and greater insight into the needs and wants of the staff members has
influenced the leadership and personality of Kevin.
Behaviour
The corporate culture has been changed and having a significant impact on the
behaviour of the manager and leaders. According to the analysis of the case study, Kevin was
having unusual behaviour as no interaction with the staff. It was the responsibility of Kevin to
manage the situation and encourage the staff members to maintain the coordination and work
for the mutual objectives (Yahaya, & Ebrahim, 2016). Moreover, the parent company has
also started to feel the impact of behavioural changes that notices in Kevin.
Emotional intelligence
The emotional intelligence is required for improving control over the emotion and
manages the reaction according to the situation. One has to be good at awareness and
sensitivity towards the other’s emotions. Emotional intelligence is having a significant
impact on the leadership of Kevin. According to the case, Kevin was good at self-awareness,
self-regulation and empathy but lacking in social skills and motivating the staff members
(Mayer, & Roberta, 2017). For example, Kevin was aware of the situation and knowing how
to manage the situation as conflict among the staff was increasing but he has failed to keep
them motivated and developing a healthy relationship.
Other characteristics
According to the analysis of the case study, the leadership of Kevin was getting
affected due to the lack of cultural knowledge of the Australian company and professional
approach that followed by them to manage the operations. Moreover, the characteristics that
were missing in the leadership of Kevin involve the level of confidence, managing a diverse
team and maintaining the integrity level to meet the business goals (Gotsis, & Grimani,
2016). The leadership inspires people but in the case of Kevin, the lack of inspiration and
passion towards the work were major drawbacks of his leadership.
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CONTRADICTIONS IN INTENTION, ACTION AND BEHAVIOUR OF
THE LEADER
The leadership approach of an individual has a significant impact on the decisions and
approaches applied by them to meet the organizational goals and objectives. Moreover, the
leader maintains specific tactics to maintain the integrity of the functions and actions taken by
them to gain the support of all members. According to the analysis of the case, the leadership
of Kevin was having many contradictions in action and behaviour (Ghasabeh, Soosay, &
Reaiche, 2015). The lack of planning and strategy to make the changes within the
organization and restructuring of the role and responsibilities distributed among the staff
members. A leader needs to be positive while making the changes of requires consulting the
team members related to changes. Kevin has never revealed his real concern about the
company or the fact that he was not coping with Johan.
Kevin has selected his team and decisions made by Kevin was not communicated
with the parent company. He needed to communicate the impact with the parent company to
get the solutions which help the COMNET to survive but lack of leadership behaviour and
communication with the team members was contradictions in the leadership style of the
Kevin as per the case study (Iqbal, Anwar, & Haider, 2015). Moreover, Kevin has appointed
Johan who has less knowledge about the sales function was also a wrong decision. The leader
has to communicate and offer support to the staff members but in the case of Kevin, there
was a lack of communication and direction for the staff members.
ADDITIONAL INSIGHTS ON LEADERSHIP AND OUTCOME
The role of leadership is to encourage the functions and operational effectiveness of
the organization. According to the analysis of the case, the economic crisis has affected the
conditions of organizations and created issues. Leadership refers to commitment and passion
towards the goals and objectives. The commitment and passion of leader create the example
for the team members and keep them motivated as continues efforts to achieve the personal
and professional goals having a positive impact on the level of leadership (Popli, & Rizvi,
2016). In addition to this, a leader has to be good at communication, but as per the case
analysis, Kevin was not good at communicating the vision, strategy and approach to meet the
organizational objectives.
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The effective communication and power of voice can help to motivate the staff and
support to achieve better results. A leader needs to delegate the role and empower the staff
members to engage them and meet the organizational goals. To maintain the flow of
operations, the leader needs to delegate the tasks to subordinates according to their
capabilities (Antunes, & Franco, 2016). Kevin was failed to do that which has affected the
leadership and micromanagement of the operations.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVING LEADERSHIP
CAPABILITIES
To improve the leadership capabilities and maintain the effectiveness, the following
recommendations are offered to the Kevin:
Be proactive: For a successful leader in the sales industry, it is essential to be proactive. The
leader needs to collect knowledge and information related to market and make the changes in
the operation of the organization to maintain the uninterrupted functions (Mulki, Caemmerer,
& Heggde, 2015). The prior planning will also help to overcome the issues like lack of
support and direction for team members.
Listen: Kevin need to listen to the team members related to the issues and ideas for crafting
improvement in the business operations of the organization. Effective communication plays a
vital role in the leadership and management of the operations (Kesting et al., 2016). The
listening to people will give knowledge about the intention and thought the approach of the
team to make the changes in the existing plan.
Check the behaviour: For a leader, it is essential to manage the behaviour according to the
working environment and intellectual level of the people. The leadership of Kevin was
influenced by unusual behaviour which was affecting the sharing of responsibility (Kang,
Solomon, & Choi, 2015). It is recommended to Kevin to improve the behavioural approach
and look for meeting the goals and objectives of the organization by getting the support of the
team members.
CONCLUSION
From the study, it has been carried out that leadership at the workplace plays a critical
role to maintain the flow of work and meet the objectives of the organization. The report has
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analyzed style, approach and strategy acted in the given case study and identified the power,
influence, politics and culture that shaping the leadership behaviour. Moreover, the report has
analyzed contradictions in the actions and behaviour of Kevin and offered the
recommendations to improve the leadership capabilities of an individual focusing upon the
case study.
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