Reference no: EM133020455

Case study

Susan Thomas is the vice president of human resources at National Products, a manufacturing company with 500 employees. The company has an opening for a general manager in one of its product divisions, and the president asked Susan to review the background of three department managers who are interested in being promoted to this position. She is expected either to recommend one of the three internal candidates or to begin recruitment of external candidates. The internal candidates are Charley Adams and Bill Stuart. The following information about each candidate was obtained from performance records, interviews with the candidates, and the discussions with the boss of each candidate.

Charley Adams: Charley Adams has been production manager for the past 8 years. He is an easy-going person who loves to swap jokes and tell stories. Charley stresses the importance of cooperation and teamwork. He is uncomfortable with conflict, and he tries to smooth in over quickly or find an acceptable compromise.

Before becoming a manager, Charley was always willing to take on extra assignments for his boss and to provide helpful advice to less experienced coworkers in his department. Charley is proud of his reputation as a "good team player" and a loyal "company man." It is important to Charley to be liked and appreciated by people in the organization.

Charley comes from a cultural background emphasizing the importance of close family ties. He holds frequent Sunday dinners at which the entire Adams clan gathers for an afternoon of swimming, baseball, eating, and singing. On Saturdays, Charley likes to play golf with friends including some of the other managers in the company.

Charley wants his department to have a good performance record, but he is reluctant to jeopardize relations with subordinates by pushing them to improve their performance beyond current levels, which he believes are adequate. When Charley gives out performance bonuses to subordinates, he usually tries to give something to everyone.

Bill Stuart: He has been the manager of an engineering department for 3 years. He was promoted to that position because he was the best design engineer of the company and was ambitious to further his career by going into management. At the time, Bill little understanding of what the job would be like, but he saw it as both an opportunity and a challenge.

Bill grew up as somewhat of a loner. He still feels awkward around people he doesn't know well, and he dislikes socials functions such as cocktail parties and company picnics. As a design engineer, Bill preferred assignments where he could work alone rather than team projects. He is impatient with bureaucratic authority figures and he is critical of corporate policies that he regards as too restrictive. Bill gets along well with his present boss, because he is left alone to run his engineering group in his own way.

Bill likes challenging assignments, and he tries to save the most difficult and interesting design projects for himself. Although Bill usually performs these tasks effectively, his preoccupation with them sometimes takes time away from some of his managerial responsibilities, such as developing and mentoring subordinates.

1. What are the dominate motives for each candidate?

2. What are the implications of these traits for the success of each candidate if selected for the general manager position?

3. Should Susan recommend one of these candidates for the position, or look for external candidates?

4. Which leadership style do you think a leader would need to be effective for the general manager position?