The Great Post-It Massacre

Case: The Great Post-It Massacre

Description

Bob Scanlan worked competently and productively under the vice president for Adventures Plus, Beverly Sadowsky. When Beverly was promoted to C.O.O., George Fishman became the new department boss. It became evidently clear that Bob was not thrilled having George as his new boss because his productivity and passion for the job began to dwindle. The situation worsened and Bob was considering a new position.

Diagnosis

Bob was in his comfort zone while working for Beverly. She allowed Bob to utilize his input and judgment to delegate tasks because she had confidence in his ability. However, George was the complete opposite. George seemed to dictate his management style through micromanagement. From the first day that George was promoted, he began to seize complete control of Bob’s responsibilities and orchestrate ‘his’ way for Bob to start doing things. The conflict between George and Bob stems from the difference in expectations of how things should be coordinated in the office. Neither George, nor Bob realized the severity of how the situation needed to be repaired and what changes need to be made from both sides.

Theory

A theory that can be directly attributed to this case is the Team Theory. When the leadership role transferred from Beverly to George, the entire management style was changed. This had a negative effect for the company, simply because there was a step taken backwards rather than forwards. The department’s team went from a performing stage to a controversial one because the member’s abilities were being micromanaged and not implemented as they were before the switch. At this stage, conflicts become a commonality (Chen, 2010, pp.274-281).

Another theory in support of this dilemma could be the based on the LMX Model. According to the LMX model, a team lends itself to the follower based leadership (William, 1991, pp.102). The team that had been established from Beverly’s reign was task-oriented...