MANM4000 Introduction to Management: Case Study on Leadership

This case study analysis delves into the management and leadership challenges at D7 Displays, focusing on the conflict between senior and junior employees. It identifies key issues such as the relationship between management and employees, lack of common ground, unclear roles, and misuse of power. The analysis explores the impacts of these issues, including increased stress, reduced collaboration, and potential customer dissatisfaction. Motivational strategies like Maslow's theory, goal-setting theory, and Herzberg's two-factor theory are discussed to improve employee motivation. The importance of human resource management, including performance management and effective recruitment, is highlighted for organizational improvement. Finally, the analysis recommends enhancing leadership through transformational and situational leadership theories to foster a more supportive and productive work environment. Desklib offers a range of solved assignments and study resources to aid students in understanding and excelling in similar case studies.

ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET
All assignments are to be submitted electronically via Turnitin on or before the due date of
the assignment unless otherwise specified.
Campus Please tick one of the following.
Adelaide Brisbane Melbourne Sydney Online
Student information
Subject Code: (e.g. BUS103) Subject Title:
Assignment Title:
Lecturer’s Name:
Your Name:
Student ID number:
Group Team Leaders’ Name Student Number
If this is part of a group assignment, please specify the name of your group’s leader.
Group Members’ Names Student Number
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Your assignment should meet ALL the following requirements:
(Please confirm by ticking each item before submitting your assignment)
Section above has been filled out correctly
Font style is Arial, font size is 11 points and spacing is set at 1.5
Assignment is referenced properly (as per assignment instructions)
Pages are numbered
I have kept a copy of this assignment
Assignment is a PDF document
Declaration below is completed and signed
ALL FORMS OF PLAGIARISM AND UNAUTHORISED COLLUSION are regarded as serious academic misconduct by Kaplan Business School
and may result in penalties, including failure of the subject and possible disciplinary action. If you are in doubt, consult your Lecturer.
DECLARATION (Must be signed): Except where appropriately acknowledged, this assignment is my own work, has been expressed in
my own words and has not previously been submitted for assessment. The information I have provided herein is true and correct.
Signed: Date:
Kaplan Business School

1INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT – A CASE STUDY
Table of Contents
Question 1................................................................................................................................2
Question 2................................................................................................................................2
Question 3................................................................................................................................3
Question 4................................................................................................................................4
Question 5................................................................................................................................4
References...............................................................................................................................6

2INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT – A CASE STUDY
Question 1
The five main management issues
The given case study depicts the conflict between the senior and the junior employees in
terms of the posts that they occupy within the organisation. The major issues that have been
highlighted are as enumerated below.
i. The relationship between the management of an organisation and the employees of
the same. The leadership of the company needed to undergo certain changes in
order to retain the employees that have been diligently serving the company. The
senior employees of the organisation who had been serving in the posts of the
bosses should be able to look at the various matters from the viewpoint of the
employees who have been serving under their supervision.
ii. There seems to be a lack in the establishment of a common ground among the
various employees who have been serving the organisation on the various existent
levels within the organisation.
iii. The given case study also sheds light on the low understanding that exists among
the employees regarding the roles and responsibilities that they have been assigned
to the concerned employees.
iv. The case reflects the lack of the engagement and the co-operation that exists among
the employees of the concern.
v. The case study also focusses on the misuses of the power that has been granted to
the employees who have been serving in the higher ranks of the organisation
(Sasser, 2018).
Question 2
Impacts of the identified issues
The first issue that needs to be attended is the fact that Tom would not be able to change
his boss Frank. The only thing that he might do is bringing about the change in himself. The
unresolved behavioural conflict that is observed among the employees of the concern might lead
to the condition of increased stress among the employees of the concern. This might also lead to
the reduction of the collaboration of the employees in the creative aspects of the job as well as the
disruption in the flow of the work that has been going on in the organisation. The conflict might
lead to the decrease in the customer satisfaction in case the condition is not looked into in the
initial stages. The inability of the supervisors and the subordinates to find a common ground of
agreement among themselves might lead to the delay in the delivery of the service towards the
clients of the concerned company. It might also lead to the delay in the process of the decision
making within the organisation. The lack of the co-operation and other engagements among the
employees of the concern might lead to the condition of breakout s among the employees. These

3INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT – A CASE STUDY
protests might hamper the various activities which the concerned company might be involved. The
misuse of the power and rights that have been granted to the members of the organisation who
have been assigned supervisory positions is considered to be unhealthy for the organization in the
long run. The misuse of the powers might lead to the unrest among the other employees who
function as the subordinates to the supervisors. This may in turn affect the production of the
concerned company.
Question 3
Motivational strategies
The various motivational theories that might be applied in this case are the Maslow’s theory
of motivation, the motivation and goal setting theory and the motivation-hygiene theory, which is
also known as the Herzberg’s two factor theory of motivation.
Maslow’s theory of motivation states that all human beings irrespective of the differences
that exist among them feel the need to be satisfied. The theory of motivation further states that it is
one of the basic instincts of the humans to work towards the fulfilment of their needs (Taormina &
Gao, 2013). In the given case, the person who needs to be motivated is Thomas Green. This
person has been feeling very low due to the behaviour that he had been receiving from his
supervisor. The management of the company might motivate him in the lines of the goal that they
have set by promising rewards, both financial and promotional.
The motivation and goal setting theory, suggested by Locke and Latham during the late
1960s, state that the motivation of the employees of an organisation are highly affected by the
appropriate feedback from the concerned management and by setting of the goals that are clear
for the understanding of the employees. The goal-setting theory generally relates to the various
effects that follow as a result of the setting of the necessary goals that were set based on the
various instances of the performance of the concerned employee (Locke & Latham, 2013).
According to the propounders of the theory, the higher level of the difficulty as well as the
specificity of the set goals helps the concerned employee to outperform their counterparts who
have been chasing the goals that are comparatively easier and general to achieve. In this case the
goals that are set by the immediate boss of Tom, Frank might in a way help Tom to gather
motivation to outperform himself thereby boosting the growth of the company.
The Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory opines that some of the factors operative in the
workplace of the concerned employees that might be responsible for the satisfaction and the
dissatisfaction at the concerned workplace. The theory, also known as the Motivation-Hygiene
theory or the dual-factor theory, state that set of factors that promote the feeling of satisfaction
among the employees of the organisation (Ozguner & Ozguner, 2014). The set of factors are
separate for those that promote the dissatisfaction of the employees. The factors that promote the
job satisfaction among the employees who have been serving the concerned organisation relate to

4INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT – A CASE STUDY
the working conditions of the concerned workplace, the various opportunities for the growth and
advancement of the concerned employees who have been serving the organisation. The
employees serving at a concern might achieve job satisfaction from the respect that they might
receive from their co-workers. In the concerned case, Tom might be motivated by the prospects
that of growth and promotions that he might be awarded upon completion of the concerned
targets.
Question 4
Performance improvements
Human resource generally refers to the workforce of a certain company. The term might
also refer to the department of an organisation that is dedicated to the management of the
employees and the resources that are related to them. This department of an organisation is
generally dedicated towards the management of the workforce of the organisation, the overseeing
of the various other aspects of the employment and the aspects that deal with the recruitment and
the dismissal of the concerned employees (Lynch, 2015). The two theories of human resources
that might be effective for the improvement of the performance of the organisation are the theories
pertaining to the performance management and those that pertain to the selection and the
recruitment of the concerned employees of the company.
The performance of an organisation generally refers to the actual results that are achieved
by the company as compared against the goals that were set by the concerned organisation. The
process to ensure the proper exploitation of the resources of the company might be termed as
organisational performance management (Hvidman & Andersen, 2013). In order to boost the
performance of D7 Displays, the company discussed in the concerned case study, the human
resources department must keep a look out for the performance of the organisational workforce.
The company might also introduce the concepts of rewarding the employees who have been
performing well in a consistent manner.
The selection, recruitment and the retention procedures too paly a huge role in boosting the
performance of the company. The department dedicated to the human resources of the company
should ensure the fact that the existing employees have been receiving fair treatments within the
company. The human resource department must ensure the conduction of the yearly appraisals in
order to provide the employees with insight regarding their performance based on the duties of the
concerned employee (Zaharie & Osoian, 2013). D7 Displays might ensure improvement of the
performance of the company by retaining the current employees of the organisation as well as
recruiting potential employees from the selection pool that is available to them.
Question 5
Improvement of the leadership

5INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT – A CASE STUDY
In order to ensure the successful operation of a business organisation, the organisation
should appoint people having strong sense of management and leadership. This might help the
other subordinate employees to be motivated by following the vision statements that have been
set by the concerned supervisor. A good leader must possess the qualities that are needed to
motivate the subordinate members in the process of achieving the goals that have been set by the
organisation (Choudhary, Akhtar & Zaheer, 2013). There are many theories that relate to the
leadership techniques that are followed by the organisations. The transformational theory of
leadership and the situational leadership theory are two such theories that pertain to the
leadership techniques that are used by the organisations in order to boost the performance of the
workforce of the concern.
The situational leadership theory is the short form that is used to refer to the Hersey-
Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory (Sethuraman & Suresh, 2014). The followers of this
theory opine that there exists no theory of leadership that might be termed to be the best theory of
leadership (Giltinane, 2013). According to this theory, the leadership style that needs to be
followed depends on the situation that is incurred by the concerned leader. In this case, Frank
might assume the role of a good leader if he keeps his ideals flexible enough to deal with the
various situations that D7 Display might face during the tenure of its operations in the industry.
The transformational theory of leadership states that the leaders and the followers both act
as the motivators and the motivated thereby helping the concerned organisation to attain higher
amounts of success in the concerned industry (Braun et al., 2013). The transformational leader is
known among his followers for his ability to set clear goals for the concerned subordinates, the
display of fairness and integrity in the goals that he sets for the followers to achieve. The
transformational leader helps his subordinates by providing them with support, encouragement
and recognition for the work that they have accomplished (McCleskey, 2014). In this case, Frank
might become a transformational leader for his subordinates by motivating them to push their own
limits in order to attain the goals that have been set by the concern. Frank should support the
concerned employees and provide them with the required assistance so that they might achieve
the set goals.

6INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT – A CASE STUDY
References
Braun, S., Peus, C., Weisweiler, S., & Frey, D. (2013). Transformational leadership, job
satisfaction, and team performance: A multilevel mediation model of trust. The Leadership
Quarterly, 24(1), 270-283.
Choudhary, A. I., Akhtar, S. A., & Zaheer, A. (2013). Impact of transformational and servant
leadership on organizational performance: A comparative analysis. Journal of Business
Ethics, 116(2), 433-440.
Giltinane, C. L. (2013). Leadership styles and theories. Nursing Standard (through 2013), 27(41),
35.
Hvidman, U., & Andersen, S. C. (2013). Impact of performance management in public and private
organizations. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 24(1), 35-58.
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (Eds.). (2013). New developments in goal setting and task
performance. Routledge.
Lynch, B. (2015). Partnering for performance in situational leadership: a person-centred leadership
approach. International Practice Development Journal, 5.
McCleskey, J. A. (2014). Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and leadership
development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), 117.
Ozguner, Z., & Ozguner, M. (2014). A managerial point of view on the relationship between of
Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Herzberg's dual factor theory. International Journal of
Business and Social Science, 5(7).
Sasser, W. (2018). Case Study: Challenge the Boss or Stand Down?. Harvard Business Review.
Retrieved 5 February 2018, from https://hbr.org/2011/02/case-study-challenge-the-boss-1
Sethuraman, K., & Suresh, J. (2014). Effective leadership styles. International Business Research,
7(9), 165.
Taormina, R. J., & Gao, J. H. (2013). Maslow and the motivation hierarchy: Measuring satisfaction
of the needs. The American journal of psychology, 126(2), 155-177.
Zaharie, M., & Osoian, C. (2013). Job recruitment and selection practices in small and medium
organisations. Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai, 58(2), 86.