Blue Sky Case Study

Blue Sky

Blue Sky is a consulting firm that has been in business for about fifteen years and yet it seems that there is not a good strategic management process in place. This firm needs to develop a good strategic management process by starting with a strategic analysis which is one of the processes of the strategic management process. I would definitely advice Mr. Willis about following Ms. Hubres suggestion on creating a ten year strategic planning process. It seems that Max Blue, founder, previous CEO, and an authoritarian leader, did not take advice very well. He used to run the company his way. His leadership style was very autocratic. He believed that because it was his company, he knew what it was best for it. While he was the CEO, the firm had a top down driven approach that involved all major decisions being down by Mr. Blue. He certainly did not believe in planning and the decision making was just his. No formal meetings were held to identify problems, set goals, and evaluate and expand new opportunities.

The new CEO, Jim Willis, seems to be more open for change and advice; however, it seems that he might be intimidated by the presence of Mr. Blue as board chairman. Mr. Willis leadership style is more of the democratic leader. He likes to be more collaborative and asks input from division managers. His style involves the leader including one or more employees in the decision making process determining what to do and how to do it. In this leadership style the leader still maintains the final decision making authority. However, the VPs are vey used to the way Mr. Blue ran business that they are not very involved on Mr. Willis meeting. Mr. Willis is using a right approach for the firm. Using this style is not a sign of weakness; rather it is a sign of strength that most employees will respect. This approach will work fine when the leader has part of the information, and the employees have other parts which is the case for Blue Sky. Once the VPs and...