January 12, 2011 BUM 4053 (01) Leadership and Ethics Chapter 1 Discussion Questions and Activities: 1.

What forces in the environment or in society have led to the surge in interest in the subject of leadership in recent years? In recent years many forces in the environment and in society have led to the interest in leadership. In todays society businesses have a huge amount of competition. Every firm has a competitor they are trying to beat. Firms are interested in effective leadership because many of the most successful businesses have come from firms who obtain effective leaders. 2. Companies spend considerable amounts of money and time helping first-level supervisors become good leaders. What sense does that investment of time and money make? Investing time and money into helping first-level supervisors become good leaders can create very valuable assets to the firm. Research has been able to show that leadership does make a difference in organizational performance and the morale of the company. The little bit of time and money spent to help create good leaders in a company can cause a leader to generate more returns for the company in the long run. 3. Give an example of how you have exerted leadership on or off the job in a situation in which you did not have a formal leadership position. Explain. An example of a situation where I have exerted leadership off the job is when I played basketball in high school. I was not the team captain but I was always cheering on my fellow teammates and keeping a positive attitude. I always tried to be motivating to help myself and my teammates do the best we could do. 4. What would a boss of yours have to do to demonstrate that he or she is an effective leader and an effective manager? To demonstrate that a boss of mine is an effective leader he or she would have to show their ability to be; a visionary, passionate, creative, inspiring, innovative, courageous and imaginative. On the other hand to demonstrate that he or she is an effective manager they would have to show their ability to be; rational, professional, persistent, tough-minded, analytical, structured, deliberative and authoritative.

5. Identify a business or sports leader who you think is highly effective, and explain why you think he or she is highly effective. A sports leader who I believe is highly effective is Coach Mike Krzyzewski. He is coach of the basketball team at Duke University. Coach K. is a very good communicator and he is very good at motivating his player to achieve the goals of the team. He is a very inspiring man and throughout his years he has won championships, gold medals and continues to be very successful in his role of leadership. 6. Based on an informal survey, many people who were voted the most likely to succeed in their high school yearbooks became leaders late on in their career. How can you explain this finding? People who were voted most likely to succeed in high school most likely became leaders later on in life because people saw skills in them that would allow them to be successful and in turn be a good leader. These people stood out in some way from their fellow classmates, as do leaders. I feel when people see good leadership in someone they would most likely assume they will succeed therefor the two go hand in hand. 7. Top-level leaders of major business corporations receive some of the highest compensation packages in the work force. Why are business leaders paid so much? Top-level leaders of major business corporations are very well paid because they are of high value to the company. Top-level leaders have a huge amount of responsibility and a heavy workload they have to be compensated by a higher wage. Also a firms top-level leader is very hard to replace. Effective leadership skills are a rare quality to find in people, when a firm gets an effective leader that person becomes very valuable to the firm. Overall effective leaders are hard to replace. 8. Suppose that a big company like Home Depot or Ford Moto Company loses money in a given year. Explain whether you think company leadership should be asked to take a pay cut (or be fined). In a situation where a big company like Home Depot or Ford Moto Company loses money in a given year I dont think the leaders should be asked to take a pay cut or be fined. In the book it says for leaders to be effective they need good followers. I think it would be the entire teams fault for the loss of the company not just the leaders. Therefore if anyone is getting a pay cut it should extend to everyone.

9. Which of the nine leadership roles do you think you are the most suited for at this stage in your career? Explain your reasoning. As of right now I am currently not involved in a career. However with my most recent job as a waitress I would say the most suited leadership role for myself would be a team player. As a waitress it is very beneficial for the business that I act as a team player and for my co-workers to act as team players as well. Because this is a shortterm job, I am not looking to move up to a higher position in the business. 10. In what way might being an effective follower help prepare a person for becoming an effective leader? Effective followers may help prepare a person for becoming an effective leader because effective followers are committed, focused, courageous and self-managed. They display the personal characteristics and qualities of a leader. This helps someone see leadership characteristics and show them how leaders perform. They set good examples when preparing a person to be an effective leader.

Leadership Case Problem A: Highland Homes Goes for the Green is about two men Bob Shallenberger and John Cavanagh who have created a home building business. They both live in homes built by their company and use them as models to show the guests and potential buyers. The intentions of their business are to be recognized as the most environmentally friendly homebuilders. Their methods for this is to use sustainably grown wood, rooftop decks, underground parking, lots of park-like green space and high-efficiency heating and cooling systems. Highland Homes strives to be different and innovative. As fun extras with their service they include an option of a special package they call Elvis live, which includes a stereo, karaoke machine, CD player, and iPod Nano. They have a demand for their affordable and hip product and they are excited to see what the future holds. Another strategy they use for their business is they hire cool people to work for them and they say the people that they sell to are cool too. They believe that using entrepreneurial-minded employees helps with a creative and dedicated work force.

Questions: 1. In what way are Bob Shallenberger and John Cavanagh exercising leadership? Bob Shallenberger and John Cavanagh are exercising leadership by setting a good example. They both live in a home built by their company to help promote their business. They are also very innovative with their ideas in how they build their homes and their extra packages they include. 2. What leadership roles are Shallenberger and Cavanagh carrying out as they attract cool people to work with them? The leadership roles Shallenberger and Cavanagh carry out as they attract cool people are that they uplift their employees by complimenting them. They also make their business appealing by conveying the message to people that their business is cool and hip. 3. Why would cool people be attracted to working for Highland Homes? I think cool people might be attracted to working for Highland Homes because they are a new and hip product. They tell people they are a cool company and they believe the people they sell to are cool too. 4. What roles might Shallenberger and Cavanagh need to carry out to attain their goal of being recognized as the top green residential builder in the United States? The roles Shallenberger and Cavanagh need to carry out to attain their goal of being recognized as the top green residential builder in the United States is to market their product. They need to get people aware of their product and spread the word of what they do and continue to create a high demand for their product.