A manager is an individual tasked with the duties of planning, coordinating, and directing the work of a team or a person in an organization. The manager also monitors the work and takes corrective measures whenever necessary. A leader is a person who has the trust of the others to lead them in pursuing what they deem to be the best possible solution to specific situations or problems (Reh, 2014).
John Terrill best meets the definition of a leader. First, Terrill asked the engineers why the division had such as turnover. This was to find out from the engineers themselves what the problem was. Second, Terrill on hearing the problems envisioned future where engineers were free to work with customers and join self-directed teams for product improvement. Third, Terrill decided to adopt the solution put forward by the engineers as a way of working towards the goal and asked them to turn in the originals to his office daily rather than mailing them to headquarters. Finally, the engineers cheered as Terrill was pushing a cart loaded with stacks of report to the company president’s office showing that Terrill had earned the trust of the engineers.
Terrill does not fit the definition of a manager because of several reasons. First, Terrill did not coordinate the activities of the department with the rest of the organization, which involved writing reports in triplicate and mailing them to headquarters daily. Second, he did not monitor the work of the engineers rather stayed out of their way and let them do their work. Third, Terrill vision for the future involved the engineers joining self-directing teams, this shows that he did not have any interests in controlling the activities of the employees. Finally, Terrill consulted with the engineers in the division when he first arrived. This is not typical of managers who mostly make decisions based on their own inferences and not of employees’ inferences.
Traits of Leaders
Some of the traits exhibited by leaders include innovation, originality, development, focusing on people, inspiring trust, long-term vision, doing the right thing, asking what and why, and offering challenges (Murray, 2016).
Focusing on People
When Terrill first arrived at DGL International, he showed great concern for the engineers working in the sales engineering division and wanted to know why the department has such a turnover. Terrill decided to stay out of the way of the engineers and also keep the top management off the backs’ of the engineers. This solution was also people focused as opposed to organizational focused.
Challenging
Terrill after hearing the complaints of the engineers working in the division decide to challenge the working and top management of the organization. He asked the engineers not to mail the reports to the headquarters but to submit them to his office. He kept the reports for three weeks before the secretary of finance asked for some of the reports. By this time the reports had formed a huge stack. Terrill took the reports to the company president’s office and placed them on the president desks saying that was the reason for lack of productivity at the Sales Engineering division. Terrill suggested that instead of the engineers writing the reports they should spend their time doing other things and a brief monthly reports from his office submitted every month to satisfy the needs of other departments.
Visionary
Terrill after spending only two hours discussing the problems of the Sales Engineering Division began to envision a future for the division. In his vision, he saw a future where the engineers in the division were free to work with customers and join self-directed teams for product improvement.
Leader Participation Styles
The styles used by leaders in decision-making process include; autocratic, consultative, transactional, collaborative, and delegation (Kick, 2011). The decision-making style that Terrill used was consultative that involves getting team members’ input before making a decision. However, the leader solely decides on a decision without involving the group members or asking for their opinions regarding the chosen solution. This is evident in the case, as it seen that Terrill asked for the engineers in the division what was causing the department to have such a poor turnover. Terrill spent over two hours discussing the problems faced by the engineers in the division. After the discussion, Terrill concluded that he would stay out of the way of the engineers and also take the top management off their backs. No further discussions on the matter were done after that.
The worst decision-making style that Terrill would have used in the case was autocratic that involves handing down decisions to a team without any discussions. This is because Terrill was new to the company and the division and he did not know what caused the problem in the division. Another reason is that had Terrill decide to use this decision-making style then the chosen solution to the problem would certainly not work. Finally, using this style would cause Terrill to face rebellion from the employees yet as a leader he needed to earn their trust.
References
Kick, N. (2011, April 7). Leadership styles: Decision making. Retrieved May 20, 2016, from Leadership, http://springboard.resourcefulhr.com/leadership-styles-decision-making/
Murray, A. (2016). What is the difference between management and leadership? - management - WSJ.Com. Retrieved May 20, 2016, from The Wall Street Journal, http://guides.wsj.com/management/developing-a-leadership-style/what-is-the-difference-between-management-and-leadership/
Reh, J. F. (2014, December 16). Manager. Retrieved May 20, 2016, from About Money, http://management.about.com/od/policiesandprocedures/g/manager1.htm
