[ GROUP 5 ]
Fiona Gail Magdaug – LEADER
John Rexyl Echalar
Ranz Ardeno
Kiarah Julienne Ledesma
‘Eating Lunch Standing Up
Susan Parks is the part-owner and manager of Marathon Sports, an athletic
equipment store that specializes in running shoes and accessories. The store
employs about 10 people, most of whom are college students who work part-time
during the week and full-time on weekends. Marathon Sports is the only store of
its kind in a college town with a population of 125,000. The annual sales figures
for the store have shown 15% growth each year.
Susan has a lot invested in the store, and she works very hard to make sure the
store continues to maintain its reputation and pattern of growth. She works 50
hours a week at the store, where she wears many hats, including those of buyer,
scheduler, trainer, planner, and salesperson. There is never a moment when
Susan is not doing something. Rumor has it that she eats her lunch standing up.
Employees’ reactions to Susan are strong and varied. Some people like her style,
and others do not. Those who like her style talk about how organized and
efficient the store is when she is in charge. Susan makes the tasks and goals for
everyone very clear. She keeps everyone busy; when they go home at night, they
feel as if they have accomplished something. They like to work for Susan
because she knows what she is doing. Those who do not like her style complain
that she is too driven. It seems that her sole purpose for being at the store is to get
the job done. She seldom, if ever, takes a break or just hangs out with the staff.
These people say Susan is pretty hard to relate to, and as a result it is not much
fun working at Marathon Sports.
Susan is beginning to sense that employees have a mixed reaction to her leadership
style. This bothers her, but she doesn't know what to do about it. In addition to her
work at the store, Susan struggles hard to be a good spouse and mother of three
children.
Questions
1. According to the style approach, how would you describe Susan’s leadership?
According to the style approach, we would describe Susan’s leadership as the
Authority-Compliance or 9,1 style because she is more focused on getting things done,
and she puts in a lot of effort at the store alongside the staff to accomplish a certain
goal, but in this style communicating with followers is not emphasized except for the
purpose of giving instructions about the task, just like how Susan does. She is more
focused in organizing things and achieving a certain goal. She is organize and efficient
in her business that somehow affected the relationship between her employees because
they somehow dislikes Susan’s leadership when it comes to relationship with the
employees.
2. Why does her leadership style create such a pronounced reaction from her
subordinates?
We must say that Susan is a great leader when it comes to doing a lot of tasks and
achieving a certain goals, but some from the employee’s perspective, her leadership is
kind of a lacking. Her leadership when it comes to tasks is pretty good that’s why some
of her employees loves her leadership. They like to work with and for Susan because
she knows what she is doing, she is goal oriented and efficient when she’s in charge.
While others, don’t like her leadership because she is too driven. They said that Susan
is pretty hard to relate to, and as a result it is not much fun working with her.
3. Do you think she should change her style?
Yes, we think that she should change her style. Although we are built different, we still
have a lot of opportunities, courage, and strength to change ourselves to be a better one.
It is really a big help for her to change her leadership style so she can lead her
employees like what a great leaders do. It will take her a long time to change but I do
believe that she will accomplish in changing her style. As of now, we suggest that
she’ll just go with flow and start building a great relationship and connection, little by
little with her employees. Her decision to alter her leadership style will truly help her
lead her team with the effectiveness of a great leader. If she could change her style,
then she’ll be more acknowledge and be more effective leader of the group.
4. Would she be effective if she changed?
Susan is already a great and effective leader but just lacks in communicating with her
employees, but if she will improve her style and changed it to be better then, YES, she’ll
be a more effective leader with her employees. Conflicts will be avoided. The more you
connect with your people, the more ideas and information you'll acquire, and the simpler
it will be to complete the jobs successfully. If Susan is being more interactive, she can
create a lot of relationship with people and she can unlocked new experiences that she
can use in leading her employees.
