1

Leadership Case Problem B

Brittany Archambeau

Derrick Allred

Sofia Johnson

Thomas Smith

Siena Heights University

2-21-2021
[SHORTENED TITLE UP TO 50 CHARACTERS] 2

Leadership Case Problem B

Leadership Case Problem B involves a leader, by the name of Ashley, struggling to

manage her team in a changing environment. Ashley is tasked with leading her team and

increasing customer service at an insurance company. Through the experience, Ashley found

difficulties in being an effective team leader, getting her group to function as a team, and

optimizing her own charisma.

Becoming A More Effective Team Leader

“There are no bad teams, only bad leaders” (Willink & Babin, 2015). In this scenario,

Ashley is not being a motivational leader. She claims to hold meetings, post messages, and

answers any team questions, yet the team has underperformed. This scenario could benefit from

team lunches or other group activities for a better team-building environment that will help

motivate the team (Rajiah & Bhargava, 2016).

The team has expressed concerns and do not believe in the company’s new goal. Ashley

did not help this matter by simply “going through the motions” via telling her team to trust her

and to go along with the idea (DuBrin, 2016, p. 305). If Ashely does not believe in the

company’s new goal, she will have a hard time motivating her team. To be effective, Ashely

needs to have ownership of the team, and make them feel more like a group.

One effective way that Ashely could influence her team would be to allow the members

to have their own stake within the team or become more “co-opt” (DuBrin, 2016). She could

open the discussion to the members and gather input from them to see if they could provide any

suggestions that may allow them to create a better team dynamic. Having team buy-in would

allow all members to feel a part of the team and take pride within their role (Rajiah & Bhargava,

2016). If any member of her team were not comfortable with a group setting, she could hold
[SHORTENED TITLE UP TO 50 CHARACTERS] 3

regular one on one meetings with all members of the team to establish progress reports and open

discussion.

If Ashley can combine all these steps and utilize motivational techniques, she could help

get her team back on track. Empowering her team with clear goals through improved teamwork

will prevent any one member of the team becoming overloaded, confused on role assignments,

and promote better communication.

Functioning as A Team

Ashley seems to have some major issues with getting her group to be motivated to work

as a team. Ashley explained that even after being put into a “team” structure, business by the

members have been conducted as usual before the teams were formed. Ashley said that most of

the work is done solo and whenever communication is made, it is through emails as needed.

There are some changes that could be made by Ashley to turn her group into a

functioning team. Motivation seems to be low within the team and should be addressed by

Ashley to regain cooperation with the other employees. Some steps that can be taken by Ashley

to motivate her team would be to recognize team members achievements, ensure team members

are informed of steps that can improve performance, implement rewards and punishments to

sustain satisfactory performance, and inspire the other employees by being charismatic, creating

visions, telling interesting stores and being highly ethical. (Dubrin, 2016).

All teams are dysfunctional, but that is not necessary a bad thing. Many teams that are

dysfunctional possess a variety of qualities and skills from their team members, this allows

success to be part of their system and embrace differences in skills. Ashley as a team leader

needs to recognize their individual abilities and find a way to show them that is a good thing to

continue to work as a team and achieve the desired goals not only for personal success, but as a
[SHORTENED TITLE UP TO 50 CHARACTERS] 4

team fulfillment of their mission. Dubrin (2016) says, "Being committed to a mission improves

teamwork, as does the process of formulating a mission" (pg. 281). A mission would not only

give the team a purpose, but it will also allow everyone the opportunity to use their individual

skills to accomplish their goal and Ashley can use that as a guidance to keep her team moving

forward.

Utilizing team building skills is something Ashley can improve on to be a more effective

leader and make her team more efficient. She can do this by making sure team members are

recognized for their individual accomplishments. Team members will likely have more pride in

their work when they are being recognized for it. Also, to bring the team closer together, Ashley

could conduct moral building activities such as parties to bring the team closer together. Lastly,

Ashley could involve in her meeting where everyone has a chance to speak and let their voice be

heard. This would allow members to voice their problems, concerns, and their accomplishments.

(Dubrin, 2016).

The overall atmosphere around the team could use some adjustments to bring the team

closer together and produce better results. Ashley needs to promote collective orientation by

promoting work being viewed as “ours” and not “mine”. (Kalisch & Schoville, 2012). Creating

an atmosphere that involves everyone looking at the bigger picture of the team and not their own

personal interests will help them to function together towards a common goal.

Evaluation of Ashley’s Charisma

The word charisma comes from a Greek word meaning “divinely inspired gift” (Dubrin,

2016). While there are many ways to define charisma, the study of leadership defines it as “a

special quality of leaders whose purposes, powers, and extraordinary determination differentiate
[SHORTENED TITLE UP TO 50 CHARACTERS] 5

from the others” (DuBrin, 2016, p. 74). The term charismatic is related to having a charming or

bright personality.

The evaluation about Ashley's charisma gives the impression that she lacks self-

confidence and does not sync with her team. Ashley's charisma is not strong enough to engage

her team and motivate them to achieve success. Balkundi, et al. (2011) stated that, "The leader

inspires and activate subordinates to perform and achieve goals beyond normal expectations."

Without strong charisma Ashley's team does not find the motivation and inspiration necessary to

bond as a team.

A key trait of charisma in a leader involves a relationship and personal interactions with

the individuals involved within the team. In Ashley’s case, her team meetings were not enough to

create personal relationships with the other team members. She could have benefited the team

and the company by having additional meetings and one on one meetings with team members.

These individual meetings could have helped Ashley get to know her team members more

personally.

A major part of being a charismatic leader is to have a vision. Vision is defined by

DuBrin (2016) as “the ability to imagine different and better future conditions and ways to

achieve them” (p. 81). Ashley does not convey a clear vision to her team. By claiming “Trust me,

everything will work out fine. Just go along with the team idea for now”, Ashley does not give a

true sense of where the company plans to be or any additional information on how to make

things better. Her vision is very blurry and in return, her team members do not have a clear vision

themselves. This unclear vision of both Ashley and her team members hinders the team in many

ways including poor performance from all.

References

Dubrin, A. J. (2016). Leadership: Research Findings; Practice, and Skills. Boston, MA:

Cengage.Learning.

Balkundi, P., Kilduff, M., & Harrison, D. A. (2011). Centrality and charisma: Comparing how

leader networks and attributions affect team performance. Journal of Applied Psychology

96(6), 1209-1222. http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.emich.edu/10.1037/a0024890

Kalisch, B., & Schoville, R. (2012). It Takes a Team. The American Journal of Nursing, 112(10),

50-54. Retrieved February 11, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23461109

Rajiah, P., & Bhargava, P. (2016, February 21). Motivational leadership: tips from the business

world. Journal of the American College of Radiology, 13(5), 585-589.

Willink, J., & Babin, L. (2015). Extreme ownership - how us navy seals lead and win. New York

St. Martin's Press.