Issues faced by Martin Quinn
Management concerns focus on how things get done by the subordinates. Martin admits that Erik Rasmussen brought about mixed results in the company. Martin Quinn is facing three issues concerning demands, constraints and choices. These issues are most likely to affect his choice of action regarding Erik. Firstly, demands are necessary duties, activities and responsibilities that come as a result of managerial position one occupies.
Demands involve standards, objectives, bureaucratic procedures, and conducting performance appraisals. Martin must evaluate the mixed performance of Erik. Martin knows Erik changed the company’s performance, managed to reduce cost, but issues concerning staff morale and customers’ complains were on the rise. He is wondering whether Erik should take some midcourse in order to know operational details of the company products and services (Yukl, 2010).
Secondly, Martin faces issues concerning constraints. Constraints include both organizational and external issues influencing what a leader can do. Constraints include rules and other forms of regulations. Organizational resources availability also forms part of constraints. Martin must decide how to handle both the internal and external constraints. Internally, he must handle Erik and untrained representatives (personnel) and deals with external factors such as complain arising from customer due to wrong information given by the staff who are inexperienced or sounded rushed (Adler, 1997).
Lastly, Martin has to deal with issues of choices. Choice presents an opportunity for Martin to decide what and how to act in the case of Erik. However, this choice may be limited by demands and constraints. Martin had objectives for choosing Erik to replace Evelyn. He wanted to cut cost in the labor intensive department of customer support. Martin finds evaluating Erik hard because of the mixed performance he had achieved as a manager. Martin has to decide on what strategies to use to pursue the departmental objectives, work aspects, delegation of responsibilities and how to influence decisions and staff. As a leader, Martin must follow the company’s policy in his evaluation of Erik’s performance.
Leadership styles of Evelyn Gustafson and Erik Rasmussen
Leadership is a role oriented necessity for managers. This is the main reason why managerial positions are in place, and as such their different types of leadership styles exhibited by various managers. Erik and Evelyn show different leadership styles based on experience and personality. Erik is a task-oriented leader. He does not spend his time doing what his subordinates are doing. Erik is mainly concentrating on work-related issues such as planning, giving work schedules, looking into subordinates’ activities and providing necessary equipment such as software to measure performance. He guided the staff in achieving high and realistic set targets.
On the other hand, Evelyn is a relations-oriented leader. She is more supportive and mindful with subordinates. She is showing trust, confidence, friendly, considerate and understands the staff problems. Evelyn is also helping the staff to develop and further their careers through the training she offers them. She likes keeping her staff informed of what is happening in the industry. Evelyn even allowed autonomy on how her staffs were doing their works. These came with show of appreciations and recognition to the staff. She even fought for higher pay in her department. This is the only way she could appreciate staff contributions and accomplishments. Evelyn is treating her staff in a supportive manner to build and maintain their senses of personal and job importance. Evelyn focus was on her staff. She had a low concern for job performance and achievements (Bryman, 1992).
The relative strengths and weaknesses of the two leadership styles
Each style of leadership exhibits strength as well as weakness. Evelyn demonstrates the strength in managing people. She had a well satisfied staff, and the turnover was low. She encouraged training and career growth in staff. However, Evelyn was too friendly to her staff. This negatively impacted on the production and efficiency of the company while keeping them at a higher cost. Her staff enjoyed too much freedom. Evelyn leadership style tends to avoid facing issues of poor performance among staff. She rather not gives negative feedback to her staff so as to maintain personal relations (Cavaleri, 1996).
Erik leadership style is productivity based. He has no time to accommodate staff feelings. He managed to increase performance and cut down on cost. However, Erik dominated his subordinates. His style of leadership affected staff morale. Therefore, staff developed a sense of insecurity in their duties. Customers’ complains also increased because Erik reduced the number of training and involved more inexperienced staff. He did not encourage staff career growth and independent decision-making process.
Actions to resolve the current situation
The situation at the company presents mixed results. Since Erik is a first time manager, Quinn needs to help him develop his management skills on the relationship with his subordinates as drives performance. Therefore, taking a midcourse is a necessary activity for Erik. This company should also have a succession plan in place to ensure the smooth continuity. Quinn’s focus on customers’ complains must also be taken into account. This will ensure that they retain their customers. Erik only needs to be assertive in his duties.
References
Adler, J. (1997). International dimensions of organizational behavior. Cincinnati, OH: South Western College Publishing.
Bryman, A. (1992). Charisma and leadership in organizations. London: Sage.
Cavaleri, S. (1996). Managing in organizations that learn. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers.
Yukl, G. (2010). Leadership in Organizations, 7 edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.