Reference no: EM133321495

By Joseph C. Santora, Essex County College, U.S.A. and TSTDCG, Inc., and James C. Sarros, Monash University, Australia

Josh Martin, a 41-year old administrator at the Centre Street Settlement House, a 
nonprofit social service agency with 70 employees and more than $6 million in assets, sat 
pensively at his desk located outside the executive suite. He thought to himself, "No, it 
can't be. I can't have been working here for 20 years. Where did the time go?"

Martin has spent his entire adult life working at the Centre Settlement House. He began 
his career there immediately after graduating from college with a degree in economics 
and very slowly climbed the narrow administrative ladder from his initial position as the 
director of a government-funded project to his current position as the deputy agency 
administrator. In addition, for the past five years, he has been serving as the president of 
the agency's for-profit construction company. He reports directly to Tom Saunders, the 
autocratic executive director of the agency.

Martin, a competent administrator, often gets things done through his participative 
leadership style. In the last few years, Martin's job responsibilities have increased 
exponentially. He fills many informational, decisional, and interpersonal managerial 
roles for the agency. Six months ago, he was given the added responsibility of 
processing invoices for agency vendors and consultants, authority he shares in common 
with Saunders and the agency's accountant.

Martin is rewarded handsomely for his role in the non-profit agency. Last year, he earned 
$90,000, plus a liberal fringe benefits package that included an agency car, a pension 
plan, a medical health plan (including dental), a month's vacation, 15 paid holidays, and 
unlimited sick time. Although he has received an annual cost-of-living allowance 
(COLA), Martin has no written contractual agreement and essentially serves at the 
pleasure of Saunders.

Martin pays a high personal price for his attractive compensation package. He is on-call 
24 hours a day, complete with a beeper. Each Sunday morning, Martin attends a 
mandatory agency strategy meeting required of all agency managers.

Over the years, Martin has tolerated Saunders' erratic mood swings and his 
inattentiveness to agency details. Tension between the two men reached a highpoint in 
recent months. For example, two months ago, Martin called out sick because he was 
suffering from a severe bout of the flu. Martin's absence forced Saunders to cancel an 
important meeting to supervise an agency fiscal audit. Saunders responded to Martin's 
absence in an irrational fashion by focusing on a small piece of tile missing from the 
cafeteria floor. He screamed at two employees who were eating lunch in the cafeteria.

"You see," he said, "Martin doesn't give a damn about anything in this agency. I always 
have to make sure things get done around here. Just look at the floor! There's a piece of 
tile missing!" Mary Thompson and Elizabeth Duncan, two veteran employees, seemed 
shocked by Saunders' reaction to the missing piece of title. As Saunders stormed out of 
the cafeteria throwing his hands in the air, Mary turned to Elizabeth and whispered, 
"Saunders is really going off the deep end. Without Josh nothing would get done around 
here. I don't see how Saunders can blame Josh for every little problem. I wonder how 
long Josh can take this unfair treatment." Elizabeth nodded her head in agreement.

A month after this incident, Martin recommended pay increases for two employees who 
had received excellent performance appraisals by their supervisors. Martin believed that 
a two percent raise, admittedly only a symbolic raise, would provide motivation, would 
increase morale, and would not seriously jeopardize the agency's budget. When Martin 
proposed his recommendations for employee raises to Saunders at the Thursday weekly 
fiscal meeting, Saunders vehemently rejected Martin's proposal and countered it by 
ranting: "everybody wants a raise around here. It's about time people started doing more 
work and stopped whining about money. Let's move on to the next agenda item."

Saunders closed the weekly staff meeting by saying "I'm the leader of this agency. I 
have to manage everything for this agency to run effectively." Phil Jones, the director of 
field operations, turned to Paul Lindstrom, the fiscal officer, andwhispered, "Sure, 
Saunders is the director of this agency alright, but he couldn't manage his way out of a 
paper bag. Without Josh, this place would be in total chaos. Besides, at least Josh listens 
to us and tries to implement some of our ideas to make life simpler around here." 
Martin has often contemplated resigning from the agency to seek other public sector 
employment. However, he believes such opportunities are rare since he is a middle-aged, 
white male. Besides, Saunders knows just about every agency CEO in the public sector.

Martin believes that Saunders would find out that he applied for a job as soon as his 
resume reached an agency personnel department. Moreover, Martin feels that his long 
tenure with the agency may be detrimental; most prospective employers would be 
suspicious of his motives for leaving the settlement house after some two decades of 
service. Martin mused, "Perhaps, I stayed too long at the dance." Finally, given the 
present economic conditions in the state, many public sector agencies would be reluctant 
to match his salary and benefits package-at least not in his first few years of service.

Martin is uncertain of his options at this point. On a personal note, although his wife is 
gainfully employed and possesses good technical skills and experience in the printing 
industry, Martin still needs to maintain his present standard of living to support his 
family, including his two college-age daughters, a $100,000 mortgage on his home, and 
other financial obligations. He has significant nonprofit and for profit experience and 
excellent managerial and leadership skills. Yet, he wonders if there is any way out of his 
current situation.

Please answer the following questions:

• Describe the two different leadership styles used by Josh Martin and Tom Saunders.
  Do these two different styles tell you anything about leadership traits? Is there any
  resolution to the organizational problems resulting from the conflicting leadership
  styles?
• What are the characteristics of an effective leader? Do you think Saunders is an
  effective leader? Why or why not? Is Martin an effective leader? Why or why not?
• Does Josh Martin have any way out of his current situation? What would you do if
  you were Josh Martin?