Leadership Case Problem B

Emma Varies the Quality of Her Relationships

Emma is the president of the braces and support division of a pharmaceutical company. Her division develops, manufactures, and sells such devices as wrist, ankle, elbow, and back supports, plus knee and back supports that sold through prescription only. The various support devices are found in pharmacies, supermarkets, and department stores as well as directly to consumers online.

One day Emma was discussing how well she was performing as a leader with Jerald, the director of human resources. Jerald said, “We will review some of the multirater feedback with you. It appears to be consistent with some of the informal buzz I have heard about your leadership. Your direct reports like the strong leadership you bring to the division, but they think you play favorites.”

“How so,” said Emma?

Jerald replied, “Let’s look at some of the written comments on the anonymous forms done online. I think you will find it helps explain the comments about having favorites:

Direct Report A says that you are a kind and caring manager who always takes into account her needs. When she needed time off to take care of a parent who moving to assisted living, you gave her three days off of paid leave. When she wanted some experience with analytics, you found the right project for her.

Direct Report B says that you can be a little callous and indifferent. He once told you that if you could hire one more online sales support representative, he could boost sales by 20 percent. He said that you flatly rejected his demand, saying there was no money in the budget for an additional hire.

Direct Report C says that you never shut up in meetings, both face-to-face and virtual, about our director of product development and design. You talk as if that person were single-handedly responsible for the success of our division.

Direct Report D says that you practically ignore her. If she tries to tell you something funny, you don’t even crack a smile. She thinks you are a good strategic leader, but that you act like a zombie toward her.”

Emma said to Jerald, “It is good to know that I am perceived to be an effective leader. Yet I find some of this feedback troubling. I thought that an effective leader was supposed to have different relationships with different people. How else can you deal with the reality that people are unique?”

Questions

1. In what way does this case illustrate the LMX model of leadership?
2. To what extent do you thinking the feedback presented by the direct reports could help Emma hone her leadership style?
3. If Emma does not want to be perceived as playing favorites, what should she do differently in her leadership approach?

You should fully analyze the case studies by first identifying the key issues and likely root causes before you attempt to answer the questions in the textbook associated with each case study. The length of your post should range between 500 words minimum and 1,500 words maximum