BBAB301A - Big Changes at Investment Inc Case Study - Changes in Leadership - Management Essay Writing Assessment Answer

Assessment Task:

BBAB301A - Big Changes at Investment Inc Case Study Management Essay Writing Assessment Answer

QUESTION 1 – ESSAY

Read the case study below and answer the question that follows:

Big Changes at Investment Inc.

Two years ago, Investment Inc. appointed a new CEO to save the investment brokerage company from closing its doors. The CEO knew that he had to make major changes if the company was to survive. His experience told him that he had to start with the managers and the employees; he had always believed that the wellbeing of employees stands at the centre of any organisation’s success.

The CEO first developed an anonymous survey to assess the job satisfaction and performance levels of the company’s investment consultants; the investment consultants created the company’s revenue, after all. The results of the survey clearly indicated that things had to change drastically.

The survey revealed that most investment consultants were very unhappy in their jobs. This led to low engagement levels and subsequent underperformance. The high levels of employee absenteeism and staff turnover further confirmed the low job satisfaction levels of Investment Inc.’s staff. It was as if the investment consultants did not feel important and as if management did not recognise their efforts in the company; management barked out orders and the investment consultants had to implement these orders, no questions asked. Performance management at the company entailed management focusing only on negative issues and not on the investment consultants’ achievements: a stick as opposed to a carrot approach to performance management. The investment consultants were not part of decision-making processes at all; it felt like management distrusted them. They further felt like ‘little cogs in a big moneymaking machine’. They also missed traditional consultant-client relationships, because the centralised data management system with standard operating procedures took over the investment function once they have signed up investment clients. It is as if they were only good enough to have limited and mechanistic engagement with clients. Investment Inc. only recruited highly qualified and competent investment consultants who were achievement-driven. Even though the company paid highly competitive remuneration packages, something was amiss; these micro-managed investment consultants soon became disenchanted and disengaged with their jobs.

Changes in leadership

The CEO immediately focused on changing the leadership style of all managers. He focused on instilling the following attitudes:

• A manager’s primary role is to specify each employee’s task clearly, to reduce the barriers impeding task achievement and to facilitate employees’ increased performance.
• Managers should provide personal growth opportunities for employees to realise their potential.
•  Managers should motivate employees and help them to achieve their job-related objectives; this should provide each employee with the opportunity to attain job satisfaction.

Managers thus had to ‘identify and clear the path to achievement’ for each employee. The CEO further explained that the investment consultants were highly qualified and driven people who needed challenging goals; this change in attitude and subsequent leadership approach would drastically improve their performance and job satisfaction. With all this in mind, all managers needed to adapt their leadership styles to manage the investment consultants.

Motivational changes

With the help of his managers, the CEO next set out to change the way in which the company motivates its investment consultants. The company now allowed consultants more freedom in deciding how they would engage with clients and manage their investments. This meant that the consultants would have to rely on their whole skillset as investment specialists. The consultants now had to follow a more personal approach with their clients. This meant building long-term relationships with their clients. They were now responsible for each of their accounts and did not hand it over to the ‘centralised system’. This allowed the investment consultants to track the contribution of their accounts to the overall profitability of Investment Inc. Managers made sure that they held regular one-one sessions with each investment consultant to provide them with constructive feedback to help them to improve their performance. Managers also co-opted the invested consultants in meetings concerning investment recruitment and management decisions. The company now also rewarded increased performance by means of recognition, such as achievement awards and extra leave days in addition to cash bonuses. 

The new leadership style and motivational programmes soon bore fruit: a survey six months later revealed that the investment consultants were much more satisfied in their jobs. They felt that their jobs were challenging and they loved it. They felt valued by the company and its clients. Their lives had meaning again. Increased involvement with their clients meant that the consultants took ownership of their jobs, leading to an increased sense of responsibility for the wellbeing of their clients and the company. The consultants could see how their clients’ investments, and consequently the company’s profits, grew. All of the above meant that the investment consultants were highly motivated and satisfied with their jobs, and this led to lower levels of absenteeism and staff turnover and increased performance.

Write an essay of not more than 10 pages in which you comprehensively discuss the principles of House’s path-goal leadership model, as well as the principles of the Hackman-Oldham job enrichment motivational model that were applied by Investment Inc.’s CEO regarding the company’s investment consultants. Your discussion should at least cover the following:

• A critical discussion of House’s path-goal leadership model (theory)
•  A critical discussion of the Hackman-Oldham model (theory) © Milpark Education BBAB301A Land Bank Assignment August 2019 Page 5 of 6
•  A comprehensive discussion of how the CEO applied the principles of the above models at Investment Inc.
• Based on House’s path-goal leadership model, a description of the specific leadership style that the CEO wanted his managers to follow in leading the investment consultants at Investment Inc.

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