Case A: Retention and Succession Planning in Municipal Recreation
Question 1
Yes, Katherine is looking for the right characteristics in the people she hires since she
focuses her instincts and recruiting practices on individual competency and potential, a process
that has been successful for a decade. However, she needs to take into account additional
characteristic of long-term employees, such as enthusiasm and reliability. Enthusiasm can drive
employees and make them loyal to working with the organization and watching it grow.
Reliability is an important characteristic that helps shape one’s commitment and leadership
potential within an organization.
Question 2
One of the possible root causes of the retention and succession issues is the lack of
ambition to grow professionally in one organization. The failure to commit to the organization
limits one’s potential to grow as a leader (Popp & Hadwich, 2018). The young recruits are
attracted by the lucrative pay in the private sector. The factor applies to the transformational
leadership theory, where the recruits can be assisted to grow professionally and become future
leaders within the organization.
Question 3
Katherine’s recruitment criteria could be adjusted to address the retention and succession
issue by adding extra factors and characteristics in the process. The process must ensure that the
recruits are committed to the organization, demonstrate a passion of working in the sector, and
have the potential to become future leaders. Katherine can apply the authentic leadership model
as it involves sincerity. The model can help recruits understand what the values of the
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organization are and how they should strive to reflect those values in the way they speak, act,
and lead.
Question 4
The current culture of the organization has focused more on recruitment rather than
retention with a high number of young employees leaving the firm after two years. The culture
has affected the organization’s finances for training recruits, who leave the organization after a
few years. Adaptive leadership theory can be applied to shift the organization’s culture to
support retention and career progression of the young staff members. The theory will include
mobilizing all people in the organization to ensure that they understand that the firm appreciates
their commitment and is willing to help shape them into future leaders.
Question 5
Using the authentic leadership approach, Katherine might help in changing the culture of
the organization. Authentic leadership is about sincerity. The model can increase her credibility
and make her trustworthy in the eyes of the young staff members. The four concepts of the
authentic leadership model, including self-awareness, balanced processing, relational
transparency, and internalized moral perspective, could prove important in changing the
organization’s culture. Moreover, Katherine can apply a servant leadership approach to support
the retention of young leaders. The main goal of the leadership philosophy is to serve. Such traits
such as listening, stewardship, empathy, persuasion, foresight, and commitment to the growth
and development of personnel, can assist Katherine in shaping the professional advancement of
young staff members. Thus, the organization can successfully retain its young employees.
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Case C: Management Hiring to Support Culture Change
Question 1
David Allison is the most suitable applicant to head the new management structure. He
has a higher score on the LPC scale and has been referred to as the most caring manager. While
Gladys has been with the organization for longer and understands its culture through and
through, the new position requires an individual with high management skills and the ability to
get the job done efficiently. Therefore, the owners should choose Allison to head the new
management structure.
Question 2
A change in organizational culture requires more of a leader than a manager. The
successful candidate needs to utilize more leadership competencies to head the department
effectively and facilitate the change in culture. Knowledge on leadership is important, especially
when making strategic organizational decisions. Leadership skills, particularly in effective
communication with the staff, is imperative to the management process. Once, a strategy is in
place, the head of the department is responsible for facilitating the actions involved in the plan.
Question 3
According to Fielder’s Contingency Theory, there is no definitive approach to lead the
organization. Rather, the manager will lead the team based on the situation. Both the applicants
have unique competencies and styles that match the current needs of the organization.
Understanding favorableness is important to the cultural change objective (Schyns & Riggio,
2016). Firstly, it is vital to establish leader-member relations to ensure that the employees trust
the leader. Secondly, task structure will define the tasks that should be performed. Lastly, the
position of power will determine the way subordinates are rewarded or reprimanded.
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Question 4
Using the Contingency theory will be beneficial for Global Curling’s new management
position. The owners did not have to define the new position according to the Contingency
theory. The applicant that gets the position will manage the organization based on the situation
that presents itself during the cultural change process.
Question 5
A transformational leader is best suited for the position, especially since the main
objective is to bring change in the organization. A transformational leader can help mentor his or
her subordinates and assist them in professional development (Harrison, 2017). Moreover, the
leader can help subordinates adapt to the new organizational changes. Lastly, a transformational
leader can identify the strengths of different staff members and ways they can contribute to the
change process.
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References
Harrison, C. (2017). Leadership theory and research: A critical approach to new and existing
paradigms. Cham: Springer.
Popp, M., & Hadwich, K. (2018). Examining the effects of employees' behaviour by transferring
a leadership contingency theory to the service context. SMR-Journal of Service
Management Research, 2(3), 44-62.
Schyns, B., & Riggio, R. E. (2016). Implicit leadership theories. In Global encyclopedia of
public administration, public policy, and governance