Question

Maria is the assistant director of a not-for-profit organization that provides support to families. She is the head of a division that concentrates on evaluating the abilities (skills) building programs the organization provides to families. She reports directly to the agency manager. As a whole, this organization has been careful in hiring this time because of augmented competition for federal grant money. Nevertheless, they have also suffered high workforce turnover. Three executives, three important research staff, and one staff individual from the finance section have left.

Maria has a challenging schedule that requires frequent travel; nonetheless, she supervises two executives who in turn are responsible for six staff members each. Both executives were hired within the last eight months:

Manager 1: Robin has a specific background in research. She manages staff who provide research support to another division that delivers behavioral health services to young people. She supports her staff and is very organized; nevertheless, she often takes a very black and white view of issues. High-level leadership of the agency values Robin’s latest research on the therapeutic division’s services. Robin is very motivated and determined and expects the same from her staff.

Manager 2: Linda has a strong experience in social science research and assessment. She manages staff that work on different assignments within the organization. She is recognized as a problem solver and is supportive of her staff. She is very organized and has a wealth of practice in valuation of family services. She is very talented and can sometimes take on too much.

Management is recognizing that staff is becoming overworked as everyone takes on increased responsibilities due to high staff turnover. Staff have also mentioned that Robin’s "glass half-empty" approach style leaves them feeling disappointed. In addition, she has not shared budgets with her managers, so they are having difficulty appropriately allocating work to staff. Linda said she has not received sufficient information from the finance department to complete the budgets. The finance department said they have sent her all the information they have available.

As staff become distressed, the managers are becoming unsatisfied. They feel like they are unable to advocate for their staff or solve problems without key information like the departmental budget

Question. Analyze each one of these persons (Robin and Linda) and summarize their approach to work.

Answer 1

Robin and Linda have a different type of leadership skill

Explanation:

Robin has met the qualification for the path-goal of the company. She has the type of leadership that may work when employee morale is high.

Linda has met the qualification of transformational leadership. She treats the employee as complete human beings, consider emotions and perspective. She builds motivation by providing a clear vision. She also has a leadership skill ability to solve complex problems.

Both of them may help Maria to lead the company. Robin will help her utilize the task-oriented approach. Linda will help demonstrate a relationship-oriented style to the employee. These two orientations could be structured to support one another.