Leadership Styles: How Managers Affects the Operations? (Term Paper Sample)

Leadership Style
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Good leadership is key to the success of any organization. The leadership style employed by managers in an organization affects the operations of the business as well as the employees of the organization. Various leadership styles affect how a manager relates to his or her employees. It is therefore important for a manager to develop the best leadership style that respects and fairly impacts on all employees. In relation to the case study-A Small Business Owner’s Quandary, this paper will provide an overview of the case study. In addition, this paper will also assess Jay’s leadership style and identify one leadership method used in the case study. Also, the paper will also recommend a leadership style which would be most effective in the organization. Besides, this paper will also explain whether Jay was aware of Mike’s satisfaction and further explain whether Jay should sell the company to Mike.
The case study is about a business owner named Jay who has some problems with his most experienced and trusted employee named Mike. Jay owns Impeller Pumps which is a company that provides domestic, industrial, municipal and agricultural pumps to its customers. The company was purchased by his father in the 1960s. Jay later bought the company from his dad when working full-time at the company. The company was initially legally organized as a C corporation by his dad but Jay later changed the legal form of the company to a Limited Liability Company making him the sole member of the company. Jay changed the company so as to reduce risks to his personal assets as well as avoid double taxation which is required of C corporations. In addition, LLC corporations are similar to partnerships since it allows its members to divide income and tax liability among its members.
Impeller Pumps is currently profitable and enjoys increased customer loyalty and a strong reputation as a result of its service delivery. The company has eight employees whom Jay pays well and treats with a lot of respect. He does this so as to maintain the company’s reputation, profitability and its quality of services to its customers. As a result, the company controls the well pump installation and service market within its environment to about 50 miles radius. Among the key employees in the organization are Mike Thompson and Tina Sanchez who are the senior technician and officer manager respectively. Mike is the most experienced member in the team with vast experience and has been an employee of the company for 15 years. Moreover, he is Jay’s right hand man as well as the all-time top producer for the company. However, Mike is quite unhappy about his relationship with his manager Jay. They have a lot of differences that makes it hard for them to get along.
Mike is reserved and quiet and is well liked by the customers and fellow field workers. However, Mike has a lot of difficulties with his coworker Tina. Mike complains about Tina being bossy, task-oriented and directive. As a result of his dissatisfaction in the organization and the levels of incentives, Mike is thinking of starting a multilevel vitamin business. However, Jay is worried about Mike leaving since he is the most hard working and competent worker in the company. Mike believes that Jay is an autocrat and a micromanager who does not trust his workers. Jay is experiencing failing health and thus, inability to run the company effectively. He decided to go to his home in Florida and delegate his role to his two most trusted employees, Mike and Tina. After a month of being away, Tina calls Jay to inform him that she is considering going into the real estate business. Despite convincing her to stay and even giving her a better pay, Tina decides to leave. Mike believes that her resignation is as a result of other reasons relating to Jay and not real estate. As a result, Jay is forced to look for a new office manager to resume Tina’s responsibilities whereas Mike takes up some of her duties. Mike is dissatisfied with this and thinks that he has not been given a pay rise as result of the increased duties and that Jay has not provided him with tools to enable him perform effectively. Jay then hires new officer manager named Linda Hill who was very incompetent and later decided to quit. With the manager away quite often, Mike is now the leader in the organization controlling most things and making most decisions.
Mike is dissatisfied with his salary. Besides his salary, Mike receives 10% bonus at the end of each year as well as health care benefits and a 410k plan with a 3% match. Jay has also provided mike with a large four wheel drive Chevy truck and pays for him and his wife a week-long vacation. Despite all these pay perks, Mike is unsatisfied and needs an ownership stake in the business. Mike’s dissatisfaction combined with back pain is making Jay more stressed and feels that the business he loved so much and run profitably is giving him a lot of pain. Thus, this has brought about confusion on whether to sell the business to mike or sell the assets of the company in bits.
Jay’s leadership style is transactional. He focuses on his leadership on motivating his workers by offering rewards for their performance. For instance, he pays Mike well for his efforts and good performance for the organization. Thus, this is contingent reward. Besides, another factor in his leadership style is management by exception. He maintains the status quo in the company and gets rude or irritated when the workers fail to meet certain performance levels. This leadership method is clearly expressed by Jay through his handsome pay perks to his employees (Eagly, Johannesen-Schmidt & Van Engen, 2003). However, with regards to the existing team at Impeller Pumps, the best leadership style that Jay can e...