Reference no: EM133212781

You are the Vice President of marketing for the West Palm Beach, Florida division of a major food distributor, servicing food and beverage establishments throughout the United States of America. Unfortunately, the economy is experiencing a downturn, revenues have dropped significantly, and forecasts show no sign of an upturn in the economy in the foreseeable future. Corporate leadership has determined the company will undergo a complete restructuring. Your business unit must downsize labor by 30%.

1. Have you heard the famous expression from the movie Spiderman that goes "with great power, comes great responsibility' before? The business unit President determined that middle management at the Director level will be eliminated. You are charged with laying-off the Director of Customer Service, one of your direct reports. You have been friends for twenty years with this individual, and he is married to one of your cousins. He has two young children and your families are very close. Using your leadership and decision- making expertise, explain how you will handle the situation:
   • How will you approach the Director of Customer Service to initiate the termination?
   • What form of power is most likely to influence the situation?
   • Provide reasoning behind the decisions you made 
2. Unfortunately, the termination of the Director of Customer Service is going negatively impact morale in the marketing department. He was a very well respected individual with a servant leadership style. If there was ever an issue, whether professional or personal, the entire Customer Service team could count on him to help. He went out of his way to make everyone smile, and built strong relations, both internally and externally with customers.
   • Using your leadership decision-making abilities, how will you break the news to the Customer Service staff?
   • What form of power is likely to influence the situation?
   • Provide reasoning behind the decisions you made
3. Upon notice, the Customer Service team was distraught and immediately came together to demand pay decreases for everyone in the department, including you, in order to try to save the position and job of the Director of Customer Service.
   • Using your leadership decision-making abilities, how will you deal with this situation?
   • What form of power is likely to influence the situation?
   • Provide reasoning behind the decisions you made
4. During your meeting with the Social Media Coordinator to terminate her position, the individual becomes enraged and starts throwing things and flipping over furniture. She was only with the company for five months and you don't have a very strong relationship with her.
   • Using your leadership decision-making abilities, how do you deal with the situation?
   • What form of power is most likely to influence the situation?
   • Provide reasoning behind the decisions you made
5. Two months after the layoff, you hear rumors that employees in your department are researching the possibility of unionization. Morale is low, production is down, and the adverse behavior of certain key employees is noticeably destructive.
   • Using your leadership decision-making abilities, how do you deal with the situation from a psychological, sociological, and cultural perspective?
   • What form of power is most likely to influence the situation?
   • Provide reasoning behind the decisions you made