Bahrain Foods Co. appointed a new leader 5 years ago. Dr. Zahra Mubarak has extensive experience and expertise in the food manufacturing business, holding a PhD from Harvard Business School. Before she joined, Bahrain Foods Co. was run in a very old fashioned, bureaucratic manner with staff being monitored very closely the moment they arrived on site at the manufacturing plant to when they left at the end of the day. Employee performance was ensured through a stringent rewards and sanctions/punishment system and decision making was not inclusive, it was very much the top down approach.

Since she took up her leadership role, Zahra has transformed how the business is run. She is more inclusive with the employees, discussing their views and perspectives on the future direction of the company. She has transformed their involvement, creating a shared vision and mission for the firm.

The workforce feels comfortable enough with the new leadership that they can be honest and open about their ideas for the future and her passion for what they do is now shared across the organization. The bureaucratic systems that prevented creativity and innovation were simplified and streamlined; effectively ending them. Zahra believes that employees should 'enjoy their work,' and that this promotes better performance. To support this, she introduced incentives and fun activities that improved morale resulting in increased productivity across all departments. Dr. Mubarak had an open-door policy across the organization where employees could approach any manager, without an appointment and most managers now sit in an open-plan office structure overlooking the factory floor.

Staff views and opinions from all levels are encouraged which Dr. Zahra actively seeks out. Decisions are made together collectively with employee input on important decisions the company makes that may affect them. She has demonstrated herself to be an effective leader who has empathy and is energetic and passionate about the

organization. Since she took leadership, the firm has enjoyed year-on-year increasing profit levels, shareholders really like her approach and results and company employees have high levels of respect and trust in her. They quickly realized that she would always work for their benefit and they honor her for this.

1. What leadership style is dominant now in Bahrain Foods Co.? Describe your chosen style and justify it with examples from the case study.

2. Does Dr. Zahra exhibit any of the transformational characteristics that you learned about, if so, identify & analyze at least three of these.

3. It was evident that staff at Bahrain Foods Co. have increased motivation levels since Dr. Zahra took leadership of the firm. Discuss how motivation, clear communication, and transformational leadership can improve decision-making and productivity. In your discussion, you can use the context of this case study or any other relevant examples.  

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1 The dominant leadership style at Bahrain Foods Co under Dr Zahra Mubaraks leadership appears to be transformational leadership Transformational lead... View the full answer