Week 1: Merger and Unit Integration Issues 

As a leader/manager, one circumstance you may encounter is the necessity to integrate or merge two organizational units. This can be a stressful period which, if not properly managed, can cause a good deal of tension and/or conflict, often leading to decreased organizational performance.

Consider that senior management has dictated that your unit will merge with another manager’s unit over the next three months. You will be the leader of the newly merged group. The previous manager will remain on your staff. Senior management has asked you to submit a merger plan. (If you have previously been involved in an actual unit merger, please share the organizational dynamics you experienced as well as any lessons learned.)

(Bring in and cite at least one source of information from your background readings for each of your weekly initial posts.)

• What are the key issues/challenges/opportunities you face, both short term and long term?

Remember, after you submit your answer each week to the Discussion question itself, you also need to respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts.

(In total for this module’s two-part Discussion Forum, you should have contributed to at least two Discussion Question posts and four response posts to your classmates.)

You must participate in both Week 1 and Week 2 Discussions to get credit for each module’s Discussion Forum.

Posting early each week will allow for more opportunities for leading the discussions, making substantial contributions, and engaging in meaningful and mutual discussions with others.

 

Week 2: Merger and Unit Integration Issues  

Locked before Monday, April 15, 2019 12:00 AM PDT. 

Using the same scenario as Week 1 of this Discussion, answer the question below:

• In describing three key elements of your merger plan, explain the sources of power that will be available to you and upon which you will draw to help achieve a successful merger.

Remember, after you submit your answer to the Discussion this week, you also need to respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts.

(In total for this module’s two-part Discussion Forum you should have contributed to at least two Discussion Question posts and four response posts to your classmates.)

You must participate in both Week 1 and Week 2 Discussions to get credit for this module’s Discussion Forum.

Posting early each week will allow for more opportunities for leading the discussions, making substantial contributions, and engaging in meaningful and mutual discussions with others.

Module 3 – Background

Leaders and Leadership

All  background materials (as well as materials referenced on the home page) are  required unless designated as optional or general reference materials. 

People  have wondered about what makes a great leader since the beginning of recorded  history—and undoubtedly long before. The formal study of leadership dates  back to the 1950’s,and is probably one of the most researched topics in  Organizational Behavior. Today, after decades of study, we believe that:

• Leaders are made, not born, and       leadership can be taught.
• Leadership occurs in all kinds       of organizations and at all levels.
• To be a great leader, one does       not have to be charismatic.
• There is no one right way to       lead that will fit all situations.

In this module, we will review the major  theories of leadership that persist to this day. Although some are more complex  than others, each seems to have a nugget of truth and adds to our overall  understanding of how leadership works and what makes great leadership. The  following chart summarizes the major approaches or models that we will cover. 

Leadership Model Principles Trait  ModelLeaders  have special innate qualities. Certain people are “natural leaders.”Behavioral  ModelsLeaders  are concerned primarily with task or relationships, though the best leaders are  concerned with both.Contingency  ModelsDifferent  leader behaviors are effective for different types of followers and situations.Influence  (Power) ModelsLeadership  consists of influencing others.Transformational  ModelsLeaders  are visionaries who change organizations and people’s behavior.

Let’s begin with a PowerPoint presentation that will provide some background on these different models:

Eveland,  J.D. (n.d.) Leadership. Trident University International.
The  exercise of leadership, by definition, involves compelling people to do  something they might not otherwise have done. The manner in which they carry  out these tasks varies, however. The degree of motivation and enthusiasm with  which a follower performs his or her work is related to the type of leadership  that is used. Here are the most common reactions by followers:

• Commitment is characterized by the       internalization of a leader’s goal or request and the follower’s decision       to carry it out effectively. Frequently, the follower will go beyond what       the leader has asked or expects—in other words, goes the extra mile.
• Compliance is an apathetic response where       the follower does what the leader asks, but exerts no more than the       required amount of effort.
• Resistance is a reaction where the       follower opposed the leader’s direction and avoids carrying it out       (passively through avoidance or aggressively through rebellion).

Let’s take a look at power, which is closely  tied to leadership. Review the sources of power in the following video presentation: 

Retrieved April 2017 from  Now, consider reactions to leadership’s exercise of power (by type): 

TypeMost  Common ReactionRewardComplianceCoerciveCompliance  or resistanceLegitimateComplianceReferentCommitmentExpertCommitment

This  chart would indicate that the most a leader can hope for if he relies on the power  received from holding a position (legitimate, reward, coercive) is compliance  with directives. If leaders rely too heavily on coercive power, they risk  meeting resistance. If, instead, a leader needs to have the follower’s commitment  (the knowledge that a follower will comply with directives regardless of  whether or not the follower is being monitored or not), then the leader must  rely on personal sources of power—such as referent or expert power.

While  commitment is very often the most desired reaction, sometimes compliance is  enough to accomplish the leader’s objectives. Resistance, however, is something  all leaders should want to avoid as it could render them totally ineffective.

Contingency  Models 

The  Eveland PowerPoint presentation also covered contingency models of leadership.  Contingency models are based on the idea that the most effective leadership  style is one that matches the demands of the situation. There are three basic  models of contingency leadership that we will cover in this module. Each has a  slightly different prescription as to the factors that a leader needs to  consider when exercising the most successful leadership style.

1. The Fiedler Model
2. The Path-Goal Model and
3. The Normative Decision Model

The  Fiedler Model 

Unlike  the behavioral theorists who came before him Fiedler did not believe that there  was one best style of leadership. He agreed that individuals tend to possess  either a task-oriented or relationship-oriented leadership style, but that to  know the appropriate style for a given circumstance, you also needed to  understand the situation:

Situational  FactorCharacteristicsLeader-Member  RelationsDo  the followers have trust and confidence in the leader?Task  StructureIs  the task structured or unstructured?Leader’s  position powerDoes  the leader have the discretion to reward or punish?

Read  the following article to learn how these factors combine to indicate which  leadership style would be most effective given specific situational  constraints, and criticisms of the model:

Fiedler’s Contingency Theory (2016). Leadership-central.  Retrieved from http://www.leadership-central.com/fiedler%27s-contingency-theory.html#axzz3OemkTtoM

While  Fiedler thought that different leadership styles worked better under different  conditions, he did not think that people could change their preferred style. So  the important task of management was to match the leader with the right style  to the right situation. The next contingency theory of leadership we will  examine does not hold that leadership style is static and instead proffers the  argument that leaders can change and adapt their style to fit the situation.

Path  Goal Model 

The  path-goal model of leadership proposes four different leadership styles and  considers two situational factors (the follower’s capabilities and motivation)  to match the most effective leadership style with the characteristics of the  situation as follows:

Appropriate  Leadership StyleSituationDirective

• Employee       role ambiguity is high.
• Employees       have low abilities
• Employees have external locus of control

Supportive

• Tasks       are boring and repetitive
• Tasks are stressful

Participative

• Employee       abilities are high
• Decisions       are relevant to employees
• Employees have internal locus of control

Achievement-Oriented

• Employees       have high abilities
• Employees have high achievement motivation

In other words, a leader does not use the same approach with hourly employees with limited skills the same way she would lead employees who are highly educated and highly skilled. Read more about this approach to leadership: 

Martin, R. (2012) “PathGoal Theory of Leadership.” Encyclopedia of Group Processes & Intergroup Relations. Ed. John M. Levine and Michael A. Hogg. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2009. 636-37. SAGE Reference Online . Web. 30 Jan. 2012. Retrieved April 2017 from https://studysites.uk.sagepub.com/northouse6e/stud… 

Normative Decision Model: Vroom-Yetton-Jago decision tree

The last contingency model we will consider is the Normative Decision Model, so called because it gives leaders a tool to use to decide exactly which of five leadership styles is appropriate for a given circumstance to ensure that the highest quality alternative is selected and the followers have the greatest likelihood of acceptance of that alternative. By asking a series of questions and following the answers through a decision tree, the leader can select the style that is most likey to yield the response she desires. The five leadership styles are:

Decision  StyleCharacteristicsA1:  AutocraticLeader  gathers information and decides alone.A2:  AutocraticLeader  gets information from followers but decides alone.C1:  ConsultativeLeader  shares problem with individual followers, asks for input, but decides alone.C2:  ConsultativeLeader  shares problem with group of followers, asks for input, but decides alone.G2:  Group basedLeader  shares problem with group, seeks consensus on solution.

Find out what the key questions are and see how the decision tree works by reading the following article. Be sure to try out the interactive tool that allows you to try out the decision tree for yourself!

Vroom-Yetton-Jago  Decision-making Model of Leadership (2013). Leadership-central. Retrieved from http://www.leadership-central.com/Vroom-Yetton-Jago-decision-making-model-of-leadership.html#axzz3OjpF9lI8 

Transformational  leadership 

Transformational  leaders are people who inspire followers to exert their greatest efforts toward  achieving a vision for the future of the organization. To do this, the  transformational leader needs to clearly communicate his vision for the  organization and this vision must be linked to strong values that followers  will find motivating. The transformational leader works hard to build trust  with his followers – so that his “open area” of the JoHari Window is  maximized. (See Module 2 for an explanation of the JoHari Window.)

Although  he does not use the term “transformational,” Leadership expert Simon Sinek is  clearly describing what constitutes this type of leadership in the following TED  talk:

TED (2010) Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action.  Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action

Much  of what is written about transformational leadership focuses on the role of top  management – particularly CEO’s – as transformational. But what about the rest  of us who lead people on a daily basis, but from the middle of the  organization? Does the model of transformational leadership have anything to  offer individuals who are not at the top of the leadership “food chain”?

The  following article does just that by making clear how managers at all levels of  the organization can become more effective leaders by infusing transformational  principles into the meaning of work. Drawing on the Job  Characteristics Model (remember this from module 1?), the authors show how  â€œtransformational leaders promote (i.e., shape) subordinates’ perceptions of  work by influencing their perceptions of key job characteristics.” (p. 354)

Dean  J., Cleavengera, D.J., and Munyonb, T.P. (2013). It’s how you frame it:  Transformational leadership and the meaning of work. Business Horizons 56(3),  351-360.

You  can find this article in the Trident University Library.                          

Required  Reading

Commisceo Global. Country specific quizzes. Retrieved from http://www.commisceo-global.com/quizzes/cultural-awareness-quizzes?view=qcategory&cat_id=41

Commisceo Global. Cultural awareness quizzes. Retrieved from http://www.commisceo-global.com/quizzes/cultural-awareness-quizzes?view=qcategory&cat_id=39

Dean J., Cleavengera, D. J., and Munyonb, T. P. (2013). It’s how you frame   it: Transformational leadership and the meaning of work. Business Horizons 56(3), 351-360

Eveland, J. D. (n.d.) Leadership. Trident University International.

Fiedler’s   Contingency Theory (2016). Leadership-central. Retrieved from http://www.leadership-central.com/fiedler%27s-contingency-theory.html#axzz3OemkTtoM 

Martin,   R. (2012) “PathGoal Theory of Leadership.” Encyclopedia of Group   Processes & Intergroup Relations. Ed. John M. Levine and Michael A. Hogg.   Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2009. 636-37. SAGE Reference Online . Web. 30 Jan.   2012.Retrieved April 2017 from https://studysites.uk.sagepub.com/northouse6e/study/materials/reference/reference7.2.pdf

O’Reilly, C. (2013). Why is   cultural intelligence important? Retrieved from http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/topic/soft-skills/why-cultuiral-intelligence-important/181942

Vroom-Yetton-Jago Decision-making Model of Leadership (2013).   Leadership-central. Retrieved from http://www.leadership-central.com/Vroom-Yetton-Jago-decision-making-model-of-leadership.html#axzz3OjpF9lI8

Videos

French and Raven’s Five Forms of Power. Retrieved April 2017 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSb06mh7EHA 

TED   (2010) Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action

Optional  Reading

Center  for Creative Leadership Website. (2015) Retrieved from http://www.ccl.org/index.shtml

McNamara, C. (2017) All about Leadership. In  Free Management Library. Retrieved from http://managementhelp.org/leadership/

 

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