Casestudy 1 Leadership

Case Study #1: Finance Department

The finance department of the state government agency had been very successful over the past two years, even though the head of the department, Ken Osborne, had provided little leadership. His subordinates were highly educated, trained professionals who enjoyed the highly structured, routine work of the finance department (Daft, 2008, p.91). The workers enjoyed being at work, as well as the enjoyment and camaraderie of working side-by-side with their co-workers; resulting in a highly cohesive team (Daft, 2008, p.86).

Osborne’s subordinates did not need direction – they knew what they were doing. They were good at what they did, which was favorable for Osborne as he could focus his attention on both improving relationships within the organization and completing his complex monthly reports (Daft, 2008, p.91). There was no need for Osborne to direct his employees on what they were supposed to be doing because the socialization, group cohesiveness and professional education of his subordinates substituted the need for task-oriented leadership. The tasks were taken care of, and Osborne continued to provide personal consideration and support as needed (Daft, 2008, p.86). Osborne began thinking he had things too easy stating, “I realize I haven’t had to provide much leadership…” (Daft, 2008, p.91).

Osborne’s current leadership style is high relationship-low task behavior. As a relationship-oriented leader, Osborne established mutual trust and respect, and listened to employees’ needs, in that he showed respect by trusting his employees to get their work done, and listened to their needs by avoiding leadership overkill (Daft, 2008, p.67). Another example of Osborne listening to his employee’s needs relates to the approval of key employee’s, Larry Gibson, request to attend a professional development seminar and become more active in the state’s accountant society, explaining to Osborne the need to improve his...