Alpha Leadership Consulting

Case Application Paper Assignment

Solyana Hagos
David Kim
Alissa Martin
Jaquetta McLeod
Bing Zhang

Who we are
We are a Towson-based firm that provides professional leadership consulting services to
organizations and the people within them. The five founders of Alpha Leadership Consulting
graduated from Towson University with degrees in Business Administration. We each bring a
unique set of skills into the company and it helps us achieve all of our operational goals. Because
we are all from the Towson, we try to focus our services to the surrounding areas but we are not
limited to just that location.
Our Team
Alissa has a degree in Business Administration with a concentration in management. She
has extensive customer service experience that translates well to our consulting services. She
also has great teamwork skills and is a necessary component of our teams success.
Bing also has a degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Management.
He has experience doing accounting work for a foreign trade company. This experience of
working with foreign companies gives Alpha Leadership Consulting an advantage when dealing
with international companies.
David has worked directly with small businesses in Baltimore. In addition to this, he has
experience working in a Human Resources department for a large company. This range of
experience adds value and flexibility to our team. His degree is also in Business Administration
with a concentration in Management.
Jaquetta has extensive experience leading others in both the military and civilian sectors.
She is passionate about education and training, as well as community service. Her leadership
experience is very beneficial to the group and is something that cannot be easily replaced. Her
degree is also in Business Administration with a concentration in Management.

Solyana has a Business Administration degree with a concentration on Project

Management and Business Analysis. She has gained her experiences in a variety of roles, mostly
in her family owned businesses where she was not just the regular intern but also admin. She is
not just used to wearing several caps and she truly appreciates it. She flourishes in a domain
where no two work days are precisely the same.
What we do
Alpha Leadership Consulting analyzes and assesses individuals to assist in the
development of his or her leadership skills within an organization. We work closely and
personally with our clients leaders to identify problems and discover reasonable solutions to
drive significant change. We will develop our clients to reach their highest potential and to
discover the type of leader that they want to be. We provide a partnership between the leader and
our advisors and offer our support throughout leadership development. Our team is motivated to
provide the best services every single day. We pride ourselves on never taking days off unless
absolutely necessary in order to provide the best services in a timely manner.
Benefits of working with us
When working with Alpha Leadership Consulting, you get the best quality services
available. All founding members of the group attended the College of Business and Economics at
Towson University, an AACSB accredited school. Although we all went to the same school, our
backgrounds and specialties are different. When a client comes to us with problems, we look at it
together as a team. While we all have our individual strengths, our interdependence as a team
allows us to go past our individual potentials when giving advice. Full involvement from each
team member means that we will see each problem from every possible perspective that we have.
Our passion for work is what motivates us, not the paycheck. This means that in addition to great
services, you will not be spending too much money compared to our competitors. We will only

charge for 40 hours a week even though we will work more than that. We would never turn down
a client who wants to improve on their leadership skills because of financial reasons.

1.

Which leadership style would Fiedler say Li Chang uses?

Fiedler would say that Chang uses a task-motivated leadership style. At the production
department, Chang closely supervised the employees to make sure everything was being done
promptly. Changs task-oriented leadership style worked fine with the production department
because there was only one task to be done. Chang also tried to use the same technique when
working with the design department she got promoted to, but the technique was ineffective.
2.

Using Exhibit 4.3 on page 118, Fiedlers contingency leadership model, what

situation and leadership style are appropriate for the production department and for
the custom design department?
In the production department, a task-oriented leadership style is most appropriate. She
had good relationships with the employees since they said that she cared about the employees
personal interests. The task structure was very repetitive since they were in charge of creating
just one part. Chang had high position power here because she had the power to fire employees
that did not meet standards.
At the design department, a relationship-oriented leadership style is most appropriate.
Chang had poorer relations with the new employees than she had previously. The employees felt
that Chang was overstepping her boundaries and talked about her behind her back. The task
structure was not repetitive since they designed parts based off of customer specifications. She
had high position power because the employees respected her authority enough while she was
around, but as previously stated they talked about her behind her back when she was not around.
3.

Why isnt Chang doing an effective job in the design department?

Chang is using the wrong leadership style in the design department. The variables for
picking the best leadership style involve followers, the leader, and the situation. Changs
leadership style is task-motivated, which worked well for the production department. However,

the situation and employees have changed since Chang moved to design department. The
capability and motivation of the followers has changed since now they are able to complete tasks
on their own and do a good job on them. The situation has changed too since the tasks are more
complex and non-repetitive compared to before.
4.

What would Fiedler and Kerr and Jermier recommend that Chang do to

improve performance?
They would recommend that Chang recognizes the role of the engineers in the design
department in her leadership process rather than just relying on her authority since Chang does
not have the level of experience that her engineers do in that department. When exposed to this
kind of environment Chang shouldve developed a state of shared leadership. According to the
University of Leicester (ORG Module Unit 6: Leadership), shared leadership is where the leader
would share leadership responsibilities with the entire team. Sharing leadership responsibilities
will motivate the engineers by giving them a higher responsibility and will allow Chang herself
to learn from their experiences. The shared leadership will have a lateral influencing process,
where it is between team members instead of hierarchal where only the leader plays an
influencing role.
5.
Which of the two basic continuum leadership styles would Tannenbaum and
Schmidt recommend for Chang and other managers of the design department?
On Tannenbaum and Schmidts Leadership Continuum Model, Chang is more autocratic than
participative as a leader. They would recommend Chang to use a more participative style at the
design department since the subordinates are capable of getting the work done by themselves. An
example of an effective leader using a participative style involves Jack Stahl, former COO of the
Coca-Cola Company. In an interview with Matthew Prewitt (2007), Stahl mentions a time when
he first started out at Coca-Cola and was in charge of a big project. He delegated parts of the

project without proper oversight and was forced to present the CEO with an incomplete draft of
his work. Stahl learned that being an effective leader meant working together with followers. He
states that he now helps people see their problems instead of just fixing them. Li Chang can use
Jack Stahls method as an example of how to approach the employees instead of trying to force
her own method onto them.
6.

Which path-goal leadership style would House recommend for Chang and

other managers of the design department?

House would recommend a more participative leadership. Right now the employees job is
tedious and they lack motivation due to their low position power. Having Chang tell them how to
do their jobs better even though she has no experience may make them feel like their expertise,
opinions, and input are useless. Chang and the other managers should give the employees the
freedom to initiate improvements on their own. Instead of giving direct orders, management
could simply set boundaries and let the engineers work at their own pace. This would give them
more confidence in what they are doing by knowing that management believes in their abilities.
The boredom that they previously had would likely be diminished because they would have more
responsibility and exercise more power.
7.

Describe Changs personality based on the Big Five model of personality

(Chapter 2). How does Changs personality influence her leadership style?
She seems to have strong traits in surgency since she is willing to confront those who are
more qualified than her about how to do their jobs better. She is constantly supervising the
employees rather than giving them the freedom to take responsibility and ownership for their
own productivity. She also is willing to discipline those who do not meet standards, so she is
driven to achieve results. She seems weak in agreeableness because her employees talk about her
behind her back and she is unaware that they are capable of finishing the task by themselves. Her

demeanor seems to be very straightforward, task-oriented, and does not focus much at all on the
employees wants and needs.
8.

How is Changs leadership style and behavior affecting employee needs and

motivation (Chapter 3)?

Changs strong personality trait of surgency is affecting her leadership style because even
though all of the employees have their own way of doing their work, she seems to want them to
do it based on her own wants and requirements. Thus, Changs leadership style has bad influence
on motivation since she pushes employees to satisfy her own self-actualization, and impedes the
employees higher needs. While it is apparent that the employees lower order needs have been
met, as they have accepted the employment and the physiological and security conditions that
come along with it, such as their salary and work environment, their higher order needs are being
neglected. They may feel a sense of belongingness with the other employees, but it is likely that
they are lacking that same feeling with their management. By being told how to do their jobs by
someone with no experience in their area of expertise, they may feel as though their esteem and
self-actualization needs are being left unmet as well. Taking away from these higher needs may
leave them feeling neglected on their lower order needs and wanting to search for employment
elsewhere. They may feel like is simply isnt worth the stress to deal with a job that doesnt
allow them to work at their fullest potential.

References:
Lussier, R. N., & Achua, C. F. (2013). Leadership: Theory, application & skill development (5th
ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Prewitt, M. (2007, September 11). The Situational Leader. Strategy Business. Retrieved February
23, 2016, from http://www.strategy-business.com/article/li00042?gko=f3702
University of Leicester (Ed.). (n.d.). ORG Module Unit 6: Leadership. Retrieved from
http://www.le.ac.uk/oerresources/psychology/organising/page_13.htm