Case Study – 1

DON’T MAKE DECISIONS

We met Ted Kelly for the first time over drinks after a day’s session of a recent conference. He
was the plant manager at a large chemical plant in Sydney. About ten minutes into the
conversation, we asked him about his leadership style.

Ted : I don’t make decisions at my plant.

Us : You use democratic leadership then?

Ted : No, I said I don’t make decisions! My subordinates are paid to Make
decisions. There’s no point in my doing their job for them.

We found it difficult to accept what we were hearing. Ted seemed to sense that, so he invited us
to visit his plant. We asked Ted when it would be convenient for us to come over. Any time you
like as long as it is not between 01.00 and 03.00 on Monday afternoon.

We decided to pop in on Ted unannounced the following Wednesday morning. He had no

secretary so we just knocked and walked into his office. We found him half-asleep on the lounge
in his office. Our arrival seemed to jar him wide awake and he invited us to sit down.

Our conversation began with one of us inquiring exactly what he did every day. You are looking
at it. I sleep a lot. Oh yeah, I read the four or five memos I get from head office every week.
We could not really believe what we were hearing. Here was a 50-year-old obviously successful
senior executive telling us he does not do anything. He could sense that we did not buy his story.

If you don’t believe what I’m saying check with my subordinates he told us. Ted said he had six
department managers working for him. I asked him to choose one we could talk with.

No I can’t do that. Remember I don’t make decisions. Here these are the names and phone
numbers of my department managers. You are free to call them yourself.
We did just that. We picked Pat Chandler, who headed up quality control. We rang and asked if
we could come and discuss her manager’s leadership style. She relied, Sure, come on over I
have nothing to do anyway.

When we arrived at Pat’s office she was staring out he window. We sat down and she began to
laugh I’ll bet Ted has been telling you about how he doesn’t make any decisions. We nodded in
agreement. It’s a;; true, Pat continued. I’ve been here almost three years and I have never, I
repeat never, seen Ted make a decision.

We couldn’t figure how this could be. How many people do you have working here? we asked.

Pat : About two hundred.

Us : How does this plant’s operating efficiency compare with or stack up against
others in the company and the industry?

Pat : Oh, we are number one in both categories. What’s more, we have the oldest
refinery in the company and one of the oldest in the industry. Our
equipment may be out-dated but we are as efficient as they come.

Us : That must be the answer – Ted makes all the decisions at that once-a-week
staff meeting.

Pat : No. Each department manager tells the meeting what key decisions she or
he has made since the last meeting. We then critique each other. Ted just
sits there listening and says nothing. The only time Ted speaks is when he
passes on news from head office.

We wanted to learn more, so we went back to Ted’s office. We found him clipping his finger-
nails. What followed was a long conversation in which we learned the following facts :

The two-hour weekly staff meeting is presided over by one of the department heads. They
choose among themselves who will be their leader. It is a permanent position. Any problem that
has come up during the week, if it can’t be handled by a manager, will first be considered by
several of the managers. Only if the problem is still unresolved will it be taken to the leader. All
issues are resolved at that level. The problems are never referred up to Ted’s level.

The performance record at Kelly’s plant is well known throughout both the organization and the
industry. Three of the last four new plant managers have come out of Kelly’s plant. When
recommending candidates for a plant management vacancy, Ted always selects the department
manager that presides over the weekly staff meetings so there is a great deal of competition to
lead the meetings. Additionally because of Kelly’s plant record for breeding management talent
whenever there is a vacancy for a department manager at Kelly’s plant, the best people in the
company apply for it.

QUESTIONS

1. Why does Ted Kelly’s decision-making style work?

2. Is Ted Kelly abrogating his decision-making responsibilities? Explain

3. Would you like to work for Ted Kelly? Why?

4. Would you want Ted Kelly working for you? Why?

Case study – 2
NOT EASY TO CHANGE A GROUP

Jim Sutcliffe, a Masters student in Business, wanted to study group behaviour during his summer
as part of an individual project for university. When he took the job at the Alcroft furniture
factory he did’nt think he would experience the effects of group behaviour to the extent he did.
When Jim started, he met the other members of his group in the production area and they gave
him guidance on what was expected of him. He worked very hard the first day but on the way
out, Frank, the oldest member of the group told him that there was no need to work so quickly
since the group had already established the right pace of work to gain the incentives they have
agreed to. After discussing this with his university supervisor, Jim went to work the next day
and continued to work at his same fast pace. Frank again talked to Jim and this time made more
overt threats that if he continued to go faster than then group they might get angry at him. Jim
recorded these conversations as part of this postgraduate project and had regular meetings with
his supervisor to discuss his next strategy.

Over the next few weeks the group became increasingly antagonistic toward Jim and became
more aggressive in its actions. First they stopped talking to Jim and then accidently dropped
some crates on his car and caused over $1,200 in damage. Both Jim and his supervisor discussed
calling the whole project off but Jim felt he wanted to go on for one more week. He felt he
wanted to get some more information about the role of the informal leader in influencing this and
he also needed the money from the job to pay for his next semester’s tuition (and for repairs to
his car).

On Thursday afternoon Frank came up to Jim at tea break and was friendly to him. At the end of
the conversation Frank asked Jim why he was behaving like he was and ignoring the way the
group had always worked together. Jim said he was only doing the amount of work he thought
was reasonable for a day’s pay and was hoping to move into management one day. Frank said
that people who don’t work well with a group usually go downward instead of upward and then
he walked away. The next day Jim fell off a ladder and broke his arm. He was sure the ladder
was pushed but had no evidence that could show anything for certain. Jim quit the job the next
week and tried to write the project while he was recuperating at home.

QUESTIONS

1. What does this event show about group behavior?

2. Which of the thing covered in this chapter best explains the things that
happened?

3. What kind of Manager would you hire to be the manager of this plant and how
should he / she handle this group in the future? How would you expect him / her
help integrate group behavior and organizational goals?
Case - 3

PREDICTING PERFORMANCE

Alix Maher is the new admissions director at a university. She has a bachelor’s degree in
education and a recent MA in Educational Administration. She was manager of recruiting for
another university for two years and was the supervisor for a large health insurance personnel
department but she has not had previous experience in university admissions.

Alix’s predecessor, and the university’s admissions committee (made up of five faculty
members), had given the following weights to student selection criteria high school marks (10
percent) Tertiary Entrance exam (TEE) scores (70 percent) extra-curricular activities and
achievements (10 percent) and the quality and creativity of a written theme submitted with the
application (10 percent).

Alix had serious reservations about using TEE scores. In their defence she recognized that the
quality of high schools varies greatly. The level of pupil performance that receives an “A” in
World History at one school might earn a “C” at a far more demanding school. And Alix is
aware that the people who design the TEE argue forcibly that these scores are valid predicators
of how well a person will do in a university. Yet Alix has several concerns.

1. The pressure of the TEE exam is very great and many pupils suffer from examination
stress. The results therefore may not be truly reflective of what a pupil knows or is
capable of :
2. There is evidence that coaching improves scores from between 40 – 150 points. Scores
therefore may adversely affect the chances of acceptance for pupils who cannot afford the
$550 or $600 to take test-coaching courses.
3. Are TEEs valid? Do they discriminate against minorities, indigenous people the poor and
those who have had limited access to cultural growth experience?

As Alix ponders whether she wants to recommend changing the university’s selection criteria
and weights she is reminded of a record conversation she had with a friend who is an industrial
psychologist with a large multinational company. He had told her that his organization regularly
uses intelligence tests to help select from among job applicants. For instance after the
organizations recruiters interview graduating students on university campuses and identify
possible hirees they give the applicants a standardized intelligence test. Those who fail to score
at least in the 80th percentile are eliminated from the applicant pool.

Alix thought that if intelligence tests are used by million-dollar corporations to screen job
applicants, why shouldn’t universities use them? Moreover since one of the objectives of an
university should be to get its graduates placed into good jobs maybe TEE scores should be
given even higher weight than 70 percent in the selection decision. After all she wondered if
TEEs tap intelligence and employers want intelligence job applicants why not make university
selection decision totally on the basis of TEE scores?
 QUESTIONS

1. What do you think Tees’s measure aptitude, achievement potential, intelligence and
ability to take tests or something else?

2. If the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, what should university
admissions directors use to identify the most qualified applicants?

3. If you were Alix, what would you do? Why?