Case Study Dorothy, Rose, and Blanche are three managers at the Golden Girls Art Gallery. The Gallery itself is in the bustling metropolis of Miami and is expanding to meet the demands of new aged clients. As part of this expansion, one of the managers will be chosen to oversee the new wing of the gallery, which will feature interactive art studios, classes for aspiring artists taught by gallery staff, and a rotating display of modern art collections in various mediums that are brought in by the numerous curators that work at the gallery. This position will require the manager to oversee the complex task of designing new interactive studios every month (which requires a complete redesign of the space), managing the gallery staff that will be teaching art classes (all of whom specialize in different mediums and have varying schedules), and finally working with the museum curators that fall under other departments to coordinate the acquisition of new and modern art collections to the gallery one per quarter. While it is not a promotion in pay, it is a promotion in title and whichever manager is chosen would likely be the frontrunner for gallery director in the future and as such Dorothy, Rose and Blanche all very much want the position. The gallery director, Sophia, has a difficult decision to make each of the managers brings something to the table. After consulting with a friend, who specializes in leadership styles and management, Sophia has decided she will lean on Contingency Theory, in order to determine which manager is the best fit for this situation, tasks, and the personnel she will have working under her. Sophia takes several weeks to make her decision. She uses this time to observe, assess and review each of the three managers strengths. Part of Sophias assessment of the three managers is to ask them a series of questions in which they rate a colleague with whom they have had difficulty working in the past. During this assessment, Sophia learns that Dorothy is motivated by relationships, Blanche is motivated by tasks and Rose can be motivated by either tasks or relationships. In observing each of these managers, Sophia has also noticed that Blanche tends to be more forward and focuses on what needs to be accomplished in a given day, which can come across as rude and aligns with the assessment given. Dorothy is very kind to everyone and wants to keep everyone happy, while Rose is a mix of keeping those who work for her happy and getting the job done. Sophia knows that it is important to consider how much each candidate has control over her subordinates, and that there are a few ways to determine this. First, Sophia wants to be sure that whomever she chooses will have a strong and positive relationship with her subordinates . Next, it is important to Sophia that the leader also be able to provide detailed descriptions of work tasks and create standard operating procedures, both of which will ensure that the tasks are being completed well by subordinates . And lastly, Sophia desires the new leader of this wing to be able to provide incentives for quality work and discipline when necessary . While this is a tall order, Sophia feels confident that at least one of her managers can fill this role well. In the end, Sophia chooses Rose. Sophia feels that Rose is the best suited manager to take on this role because she is able to build strong relationships with those whom she works. Since this position requires coordinating many different staff members schedules, preferences, and abilities, along with the ability to work with other museum staff that would not report directly to this person, it was extremely important to Sophia that whomever she choose could handle this well. Because another big component of this position is ensuring that specific tasks are completed on very set schedules, someone who can be task oriented was highly desirable. These were the top two criteria for Sophia and Rose fit both very well.

Identify the theory which helps Sophia to determine which of the managers is the right fit and explain how it is supportive for decision making?

Apply Leader- Member Relationship Theory, and determine how Sophia uses the information about the leader and determines what he or she is motivated bytasks, relationships or both?

Highlight the Situational Favorability by considering the Leader-Member Relations, Task Structure and Position Power