Reference no: EM133041915

Green Lawns International School

Green Lawns was established in 1960 by Mr Alim Shadid as a small international boarding school. It expanded slowly through the 1970s and 1980s but gained a solid reputation forexcellent teaching and impressive examination results. Mr Shadid built up a team of highly qualified staff, many of whom held advanced academic qualifications and had many years ofsuccessful teaching experience and examination results. His democratic management style worked well in a small organization. He was respected and knew all of the staff personally.Teachers were delegated authority and were allowed a great deal of personal autonomy as long as they achieved excellent results. They had high levels of motivation and worked hard, and theschool had very low staff turnover.

In the 1990s, however, the school expanded to 800 students. Mr Shadid, stressed with the effortof directing all aspects of the business, decided to look for a buyer. He changed the legal structure to that of a private limited company and in 2002 he accepted a substantial offer from anoffshore educational investment company called Edu-invest. Edu-invest put in a new Business Head, Rick Summers, as the ultimate decision-maker in theschool. Rick was in his mid-thirties and had a successful background in corporate management with a multinational food manufacturer. He brought in three of his ex- colleagues to run HR,marketing and accounting. With increased profits now a primary concern, whenever experienced teachers left, they were replaced by younger, single staff, some of whom had no teaching qualifications. It was therefore possible to cut the salary bill by 20%. During the economic boom, student intake rose rapidly from 800 to 2600 and classes were combined, doubling the average class size. Rick reorganized to implement a matrix management structure of teams with only the central management team of four authorized to make any major decisions. A number of teachers lost their jobs after criticizing the management team. At this point, parents began to complain. The situation came to a head in January 2010 when the teachers' car park was requisitioned to build a new classroom and the free education of teachers' children was stopped. Teachers formed a union and went on strike.

1. Discuses two reasons why a democratic leadership style may have been successful for Green Lawns in the 1970s and 1980s.

2. According to question (1), list one possible advantage and one possible disadvantage for school from this style of leadership.

3. What was the leadership style used by Mr. Rick after the economic boom

4. According to question (3), Distinguish between one possible advantage and one possible disadvantage for school from this style of leadership.

5. Explain why lasses-faire leadership style is not appropriate to Mr.Rick to use.