Alexis Santiago

Case 7.2
Working Hard at Being Fair: Questions 1 - 3

1. Based on the LMX model, how would you describe Jenny’s leadership?

Jenny “avoids letting their conscious or unconscious biases influence who is invited into
the in-group (e.g., biases regarding race, gender, ethnicity, religion, or age). The principles
outlined in LMX theory serve as a good reminder for leaders to be fair and equal in how they
approach each of their followers.” (North, 2019). Jenny has a few ways of showing her
employees that everyone is treated equally. One way that I really like is at the holiday party.
She gets a large piece of colored glass and had it cut into 25 pieces and handed out one piece to
each person. That person will come up front and talks about the good things about the company.
Once they are done, they place their glass down and the next person will do the same after all 25
employee place the glass down it is one big colorful window and she hangs it up at the company
doorway, which this will be a reminder for the employee on what they said.

Jenny tries to be as fair as possible she makes sure that everyone is in the need to knows
with information. She doesn’t show any favorites in the company, one way does that is she does
not go to any social lunches because she does not want to give the impression she is favoring one
type of group or person. She has a best friend at work that she keeps her distance from her and if
she needs to talk to her she keeps it business. By her doing this she is keeping it an even playing
field.

2. How do you think the employees at City Mortgage respond to Jenny?

I believe the employees will be efficient team members for Jenny, but they may not go
the extra mile for her. They don’t have a personal relationship with Jenny because Jenny is all
about work and nothing else. It is like working with a robot and robots don’t have any feelings.
Dealing with the human race like a robot can only work for so long because people have feelings
and for her to isolate herself at the job may not turn out so good. People need to interact with
one and another by showing that you care about them and if you show that you are caring just a
little bit it will go so far that people will do anything for you. Jenny is trying so hard to be fair
and make sure that everyone is in the in-group by doing that she is burning herself out and that is
not good for her mental and health.
 3. If you were asked to follow in Jenny’s footsteps, do you think you could or would want
to manage City Mortgage with a similar style?

I wouldn’t follow Jenny’s leadership style. I like to be comfortable with my employees

and be able to relate to them as people. As I do understand that there are boundaries that are
needed to stay within the workplace but I would not want to cut off all personal interaction and
relationships with the employees. Sometimes by trying to be so “fair” you are missing the
potential of certain people who thrive on pushing the limits more than others.In the navy, they
teach us as leaders to be intrusive leaders, because we need to know just a little bit more about
our Sailors.

That we as a leader need to know that their home is taken care of. Just having the
knowledge of a Sailor that just had a baby, or that a Sailor just got out of divorce and talking to
them it shows that we care about them. If your boss comes up to you and says how is your baby
doing while they are working and they talking about their baby and you listen to them and
reminder some of the important things about it. It gives that sailor the motivation to work
because it shows that their leader is caring about them. We have a saying “A happy Sailor is a
working Sailor”.

Extra Credit

Case Study 7.1

His Team Gets The Best Assignments: Questions 1 - 3

1. Based on the principles of LMX theory, what observations would you make about
Carly’s leadership at Mills, Smith, & Peters?

Carly has in and out-groups within the company and it shows with some of the team
leaders and their team. that LMX was consistently related to member job performance,
satisfaction (overall and supervisory), commitment, role conflict and clarity, and turnover
intentions. In addition, they found strong support. (North, 2019) Jack’s team is the most creative
and talented and the most willing to go the extra mile for Carly. Terri’s team performs well with
the company but Terri notices how Jack’s team is getting all the better tasks, which is causing
unhappiness. Julie’s team is just left out and id not given any help when the task was on a job.
Sarah, on the other hand, is good with Carly’s leadership. The LMX theory relies on the dyad
(relationship) between the leaders and followers. Obviously, Carly manages differently with
Jack’s team than with the other teams. No consistency could cause problems.
 2. Is there an in-group and out-group, and if so, which are they?

Yes, Jack is in the in-group because in the story it stated that jack team gets along with
Carl really well, they will go the extra mile for Carl. Jack’s team often works with the upper
management showcases and Carly and Jack’s team confiding with one and another. Terri is on
the cusp of being in the in-group Her team performs well for the agency, but Terri feels Carly is
not fair because she favors Jack’s team more than her team. An example was given that Terri’s
team was counseled out of pursuing an ad campaign because the campaign was too risky,
whereas Jack’s group was praised for developing a very provocative campaign.

Julie and Sarah are in the out-group. Julie is upset about being in the out-group for
example, whenever additional people are assigned to team projects, it is always the other teams
who get the best writers and art directors. Julie is wanting to know why is it that Carly does not
notice her team or try to help her team out with its work. Julie knows the quality of her team’s
work is indisputable and she wants Carly to know that. Sarah and her team are glad that they
have a job and their work performance is not earthshaking and never been problematic with
Carly. Sarah is not bothered or antagonistic by Carly’s leadership skills. She doesn’t care and
would rather not put in the extra work to try and be in the in-group.

3. In what way is Carly’s relationship with the four groups productive or counterproductive
to the overall goals of the agency?

The relationship with Jack, Terri, Julie, and Sarah is manged so completely different.
Carly works well with virtually only one group (Jack) which is the productive group. They will
do whatever is asked of them. She places Jack and his team under her wing and she favors them
over everyone else. The other group relationships with Carly are counterproductive. She is
pushing them to the side and they feel as if they are not good enough for her. There is noticeable
trouble with Terri’s team and Julie is concerned that her team is being left out in the cold.
Sarah’s team is total indifference with Carly’s leadership. This does not bode well for company
goals being met in an efficient manner.

Case Study 8.2 - An Exploration in Leadership: Questions 1 - 3

1. How is this an example of transformational leadership?

 Because transformational leadership is the process whereby a person engages with others
and creates a connection that raises the level of motivation and morality in both the leader and
the follower. (North, 1019). The example from the story is that Dr. Cook gave several stories
about past digs. He shared his interests in the project and what can be accomplished at this
important historical site. In particular, he stressed two points: one they shared the responsibility
for the successful outcome of the venture, and two that they had independent authority to design,
schedule, and carry out the details of their respective assignments. He also told the students that
the standard departure time on digs is 5:00 a.m. This is an example of transformational
leadership because through Dr. Cook’s experiences and how he treated his students, the overall
commitment level and attitude changed drastically.

2. Where are Dr. Cook’s strengths on the Full Range of Leadership model (see Figure 8.2)?

I think Dr. Cook used the four I’s. Idealices influenece is by him tell about his past digs
which were humorous in some, and others highlighted accomplishments. inspirational
motivation, he set the tone on what will be accomplished at the site. intellectual stimulation that
the student will share the responsibility for a successful outcome of the dig. Individualized
consideration allows the student to set up their own schedule, design and carry out the details of
their assignments.

3. What is the vision Dr. Cook has for the archaeology excavations?

Dr. Cook’s vision for his excavations is to provide an excellent growing and learning
opportunity for students to come together and work as a team, especially that the students come
from different backgrounds. Which for a leader will be a little challenging because of the
different cultures they will bring to the site in order for him to lead. Also I Dr. Cook listen to the
students so he can use their strengths for the project in order to have a successful site dig. Dr.
Cook is amazed at how in eight weeks that the students who do not know each other can become
a great team and work together and be good at archaeology, and accomplish a great deal.

References

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership. In P. G. Northouse, Theory and Practice (Seventh Edition

ed.). Thousand Oaks, California, United States of America: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Dansereau, F., Graen, G. B., & Haga, W. (1975). A vertical dyad linkage approach to leadership
in formal organizations. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 13, 46–78.

Kuhnert, K. W. (1994). Transforming leadership: Developing people through delegation. In B.

M. Bass & B. J. Avolio (Eds.), Improving organizational effectiveness through transformational
leadership (pp. 10–25). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.