Leadership Models Right Boss, Wrong Company Assignment

Assignment Task

Case Study

1. Betty Kesmer was continuously on top of things. In school, she had always been at the top of her class. When she went to work for her uncle’s shoe business, Fancy Footwear, she had been singled out as the most productive employee and the one with the best attendance. The company was so impressed with her that it sent her to get an M.B.A. to groom her for a top management position. In school again, and with three years of practical experience to draw on, Kesmer had gobbled up every idea put in front of her, relating many of them to her work at Fancy Footwear. When Kesmer graduated at the top of her class, she returned to Fancy Footwear. To no one’s surprise, when the head of the company’s largest division took advantage of the firm’s early retirement plan, Kesmer was given his position. Kesmer knew the pitfalls of being suddenly catapulted to a leadership position, and she was determined to avoid them. In business school, she had read cases about family businesses that fell apart when a young family member took over with an iron fist, barking out orders, cutting personnel, and destroying morale. Kesmer knew a lot about participative management, and she was not going to be labeled an arrogant know-it-all....

Question

1. What factors should have alerted Kesmer to the problems that eventually came up at Fancy Footwear?

2. Could Kesmer have instituted her changes without eliciting a negative reaction from the workers? If so, how?

3. Does Mr. Worthy or does Betty Kesmer leadership style best fit for Fancy Footwear companies existing problem? Which leadership style are they using and why?

2. Wild Wear makes clothing, rain gear, and sleeping bags for hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts. The company began when Myrtle Kelly began sewing pile jackets that her husband Ray sold on college campuses. It now employs almost five hundred people organized into traditional divisions such as marketing, manufacturing, and research and development.

Recently it became apparent that although Wild Wear’s balance sheet appeared healthy, the company was stagnant. Everyone seemed to work hard, and the company’s products seldom flopped. Yet Wild Wear seemed to have developed a "me too" posture, bringing new products to market a season or a full year after competitors....

Question

1. What would be the ideal organizational design for a company like Wild Wear? Develop it.

2. What does Wild Wear’s experience say about the need for periodic corporate restructuring?

3. Helen Bowers was stumped. Sitting in her office at the plant, she pondered the same questions she had been facing for months: how to get her company’s employees to work harder and produce more. No matter what she did, it didn’t seem to help much. Helen had inherited the business three years ago when her father, Jake Bowers, passed away unexpectedly. Bowers Machine Parts was founded four decades ago by Jake and had grown into a moderate-size corporation. Bowers makes replacement parts for large-scale manufacturing machines such as lathes and mills. The firm is headquartered in Kansas City and has three plants scattered throughout Missouri....

Question

• How successful do you think Helen Bowers’s new plan will be?

• What challenges does Helen confront?

• If you were Helen’s consultant, what would you advise her to do?

4. Discuss your general understanding from the above three cases that enhance your knowledge, skills, attitude and abilities in the course Management Theories and Practices by mentioning and matching with topics/chapters you have learnt in this course. 

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