Sole Source Essay

Submitted By JillianBarton1
Words: 525
Pages: 3

1. In order to help the plant manager Helen Leather understand what had gone wrong, you first need to know what the situational leadership perspective is. The situational leadership perspective is an approach to leadership that suggests how leaders can become effective in many different types of organizational settings involving a wide variety of organizational tasks. It provides a model that suggests to leaders how they should behave based on the demands of a particular situation. It classifies leadership into four styles. S1 is the high directive-low supportive, S2 is the high directive-high supportive, S3 is low directive-high supportive, and S4 is low directive-low supportive. The situational leadership model describes how each of the four leadership styles applies to subordinates who work at different levels of development. In Helen’s situation at Sole Source, there are several things that have gone wrong in the organization. The production department at the Oxford Mississippi factory has been experiencing productivity, morale, attendance and attrition problems among its 34 employees. There are problems within the two teams that have been formed. The first team is a group of younger employees with little experience and a floor supervisor that has some experience but is a bit rusty because she has been in another department for some time. The second team is a collection of older, more experienced employees that have good technical experience, but are upset because they are being payed the same amount of money as the first team that is not as productive as them and have less experience. Moral is a concern with both of these teams within the company. Using the situational leadership model, we can have a better idea of what the development level is in each situation, and what leadership style we can use to find a solution to increase productivity within the department.

2. Some advice I would give Elmer, the production manager who has a laid back personality and gives his employees a lot of space to be able to work with little involvement unless they ask for his help, is to become more supportive. Considering