1. Do you believe that the diagnosis and resulting profile prepared by Management Analysis Corporation were necessary steps in the process of finding a potentially successful group of general managers? Explain. 

2. What alternatives are available to modify Joe Morris’s potential effectiveness in the new general manager position?

3. Why will it be difficult for Joe Morris to modify his style of leadership?

At Dancey Electronics company in a suburb of Dallas, management forecasts have indicated that the company should enjoy moderate growth during the next 10 years. This growth rate would require the promotion of three employees into newly created general manager positions. These individuals would then be required to spend most of their time working with departmental managers and less time on production, output, and cost issues. 

A majority of the candidates for the three new positions have been with the company for at least 15 years. They’re all skilled in the production aspects of operations. Company vice president Don Kelly believed, however, that none of the candidates had the training or overall insight into company problems to move smoothly into the general manager positions. Despite these anticipated problems, the board of directors decided that the three new general managers would be recruited from within Dancey.

In attempting to find the best candidates for the new positions, Dancey hired a consulting firm, Management Analysis Corporation (MAC), to perform an internal search for qualified individuals. Through interviews, testing, and a review of company records, the consulting firm generated a list of six candidates.

One candidate was Joe Morris. The analysis used to assess Joe involved the study of environmental variables and his current style of leadership. Exhibit 1 profiles Joe’s leadership style and various environmental factors that have some effect on this style.

Joe’s present leadership style, which is high in task orientation and low in relationship orientation, is similar to the leadership styles of the other five general manager candidates. The expectations of the company, the potential subordinates of the general manager, and the new position of general manager aren’t consistent with any of the candidates’ present leadership styles. The intersecting area indicates where the expectations of the company, the new position, and the subordinates would be consistent. According to MAC, this is the ideal leadership style for candidates to use as the general manager. If Joe or any other candidate were to accept the general manager job, he would have to significantly increase his relationship orientation. If he didn’t, the probability of failure, according to the consulting firm, would be high. Don Kelly was adamant about not going outside Dancey to find three potentially successful managers. He and the entire board of directors wanted to use a recruitment-from-within policy to secure the three best general managers. It was Don’s belief that a leader could modify his style of leadership to meet new situational demands. This belief and the internal recruitment plan led Don to call a meeting to discuss a program to improve the compatibility between the three general managers finally selected (Joe Morris, Randy Santiago, and Ann Shumate) and the environmental factors (the company, the subordinates, and the requirements of the new position).

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High Company expectations General manager position -- Subordinates expectations for the behavior of genera manage仃 Joe's present style- Low Low High Task orientation