(Text book used: Robbins, Stephen, P. and Timothy A. Judge. Organizational Behavior. Pearson Education (US), 2022)
Read the scenario regarding the communication and leadership processes used regarding employee effectiveness.
Scenario (fictional):
Ecoroof Inc. is a successful, large, eco-friendly roofing manufacturer in a small lake town near a large lumber mill. Ecoroof is owned by two partners, Merna and Ted. They share leadership duties with each of the 45 employees, who have a dual reporting relationship with the partners.
Both partners are committed to the company’s success, although their differing leadership styles seem to be causing frustration for the employees.
Merna is laid back and easy-going, and it lets employees work different jobs on their shifts to get more varied experience. She encourages employees to experiment with eco-friendly materials to create new products. Merna rarely attends any staff meetings. Staff send her emails, but she rarely responds via email. While she lets the staff respond to customer emails, she responds to phone calls herself.
Merna lets several employees order the materials depending on who is scheduled to work. She prefers one-on-one communication with employees and emphasizes the importance of relationships in the workplace. When the business gets exceptionally busy, she orders pizza for all the staff one or two days during the high season in the spring or coffee for staff during exceptionally busy times.
Ted prefers a more structured environment and has bi-weekly meetings with the staff. Ted creates a weekly staffing schedule and has an appointed staff person order all the materials, even though others say Merna trained them to do this. He wants employees only to do their assigned jobs. Although he encourages employees to learn about the products sold at Ecoroof, he has created a list of duties employees should complete during downtime. His preferred means of contacting the employees is via text message if it is important. Otherwise, he uses email. He believes the employees receive sufficient compensation and feels the employees should be self-motivated.
Employees are becoming increasingly disenchanted with the dual reporting structure. The differing leadership styles have caused a split among employees, with some preferring the laid-back approach and others preferring the more structured one. In addition, some of the orders have been incorrect; in some cases, there were duplicate orders, and in various instances, over-ordering of some materials caused the owners to be concerned regarding the store’s finances.
Checklist: Respond to the following items regarding the scenario and the leadership and communication processes you learned about through your reading and learning activities.
- Analyze at least five problems at this company as portrayed in the scenario.
- Identify and describe at least one leadership style demonstrated by each owner.
- Explain why you chose each partner’s leadership style(s) and how the owners could negotiate more effective leadership with their partner (see the Learn section for negotiation steps).
- Describe the steps in the communication process (see the Learn area) each owner uses.
- Explain how the communication steps were not completed or addressed.
- Explain how the communication process could be improved at the company.
- Examine and explain how the owners could use the communication and leadership process to (1) build a better relationship with the employees and (2) make employees more effective on the job.
- Submit your minimum 2–3-page expository essay with additional title and reference pages in current APA format and citation style.
- Your submission should:
- include a title page;
- be double-spaced;
- be typed in Times New Roman, 12-point font; and
- be free of spelling or punctuation errors.