Reference no: EM133154167

The Case Study:

Mary is a divisional manager of a nonprofit organisation that aids homeless youth. Her department focuses on evaluating the skill-building programs that support the various associated groups and individuals that work in conjunction with the nonprofit organisation in delivering these services. She reports directly to the CEO. During the last 12-months she has been very cautious in hiring staff because of the increased competition for government grant funding. Additionally, they have also suffered from increased staff turnover throughout the organisation. During this period for instance, two divisional managers, two research staff and one operational staff from within the finance department have resigned.

Mary has a very demanding work schedule that requires frequent regionaltravel;however, she supervises three managers who in turn are directly responsible for five staff members each. The two divisional managers have been appointed within the last six months.

Manager 1: Eve has a specific background in research. He manages staff who provide research to support another department that delivers behavioural health services to youth. Kelly supports her staff and is very organised; however, she often takes a very black and white view of issues. Upper-level leadership greatly values Eve's latest research on the therapeutic division's services. Eve is very motivated and driven and expects the same from her staff.

Manager 2: Rose has a strong background in social science research and evaluation. She manages staff that work on different projects within the organisation. She is known as a problem solver and is extremely supportive of her staff. She is very organised and has a wealth of experience in evaluation of homelessness services. Rose is very capable and can sometimes take on too much.

The managers are sensing that staff are becoming overworked as everyone takes on increased responsibilities due to high staff turnover. Staff have also mentioned that Mary's ‘glass half-empty' conversation style leaves them feeling dejected. Inaddition, Mary has not shared budgets with her managers, so they are having difficulty appropriately allocating work to staff. Mary said she has not received sufficient information from the finance department to complete the budgets. The finance department said they have sent her al the information they have available.

As staff become distressed, the managers are becoming frustrated. They feel like they are unable to advocate for their staff or solve problems without key information like the departmental budget.

Case Study Questions:

1. How can Mary most effectively use both management and leadership skills in her role as divisional manager? What combination of the two do you think would work best in this setting? Explain your answer fully by critically analysing management and leadership skills and applying these in your response, ensuring that you apply references in your response.

2. What steps could be taken to build staff confidence? Explain your answer fully by discussing the importance that staff confidence plays in organisational success and what leadership attributes are necessary to achieve this, ensuring that your response is fully supported by relevant references.

3. What advice would you give Mary on improving her leadership skills and to the managers on improving their management skills? How would you implement the advice you give? Explain your answer fully by discussing any development challenges at an organisational level that could arise, together with your views regarding skills development, ensuring that your response is fully supported by prevailing theory/s which you must reference.

4. Which leadership style do you think a leader would need to be effective in this situation? Justify your answer by critically analysing the leadership styles that you have identified, ensuring that you apply references to support your opinion.