1. If you were consulting with the HTE board of directors soon after Harold started making changes, what would you advise them regarding Harold’s leadership from a transformational perspective?
Transformational leadership aims to change and transform people to be able to grow and have a connection between the leader and the follower. It engages people emotionally, through values, ethics and standards. It is believed that through transformational leadership people accomplish more than is expected of them due to the raised level of motivation and support. I would advise the board of directors to implement the four factors of transformational leadership to help Harold during the changes. Bass and Avolio (1990) identified the four factors as idealised influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualised consideration. An idealised leader is someone who has characteristics of a person that everyone aspires to be like, shows commitment, has high moral and ethical conduct and acts as a strong role model.
For Harold this would be listening to the employees needs and showing effective change as well as implementing a clear vision statement and setting goals. Harold's leadership could also change to be inspirationally motivating. This is where he makes his employees aware that he has high expectations of them. But, Harold could encourage this by inspiring them to work harder through motivation, team spirit and clear communication. Furthermore, Harold could stimulate his employees to become more creative and innovative. This is known as intellectual stimulation. By setting specific tasks for the employees they can grow by developing new skills and knowledge. If employees wanted to voice ideas and try new approaches, Harold should support, motivate and encourage them to continue trying out these new approaches. Most importantly, Harold could listen and communicate more with his employees. To be a successful leader he needs to considerate of the individual. This requires providing a supportive environment as well as listening, communicating and acting on their specific needs.
2. Did Harold have a clear vision for HTE? Was he able to implement it?
I believe that Harold had a clear vision for HTE. He wanted to transform the way the company was organised. His aim was to show that new technologies and a different style of management could make HTE one of the best manufacturing companies in the country. His reorganisation structure was implemented to boost the company's performance and vision. Harold was clear of his vision as he changed the company's original vision statement. He created a new one that was displayed throughout the company that stated the overall purpose, directions and values of the firm.
Unfortunately, Harold was not able to implement his vision. Even though his new vision statement was displayed in the company the employees lost faith and motivation and had no idea which direction they and company were going. Harold also designed the reorganisation and changes were made top-down. The employees had little say in what they needed and what worked well for them, with some changes causing more problems then there was before, such as some managers having too many employees to look after while others had not enough. A leader needs to make their followers feel valued, motivated, enthusiastic and willing to change; however, Harold appeared to be insensitive to employees' concern. He failed to listen closely to what employees were saying, causing a lack of communication between employees and top management. Therefore, employees began to feel uncertain about their responsibilities, how they contributed to company goals and they began to lose moral production.
3. How effective was Harold as a change agent and social architect for HTE?
Unfortunately Harold was not effective as a change agent and a social architect for HTE. Even though he believed to have a clear vision for the company the way he implemented these changes did not come across clearly. For a company to be successful the vision has to grow from the need of the entire organisation as this makes it easier for the employees to understand where they stand and their responsibilities in the firm. A clear vision needs to empower the employees and motivate them to perform well, however as Harold did not take into consideration the needs of the employees this was not possible. Harold was not a social architect for HTE as he had poor communication skills. He was unable to transform the organisations value and norms even with the vision statement displayed round the company.
The organisation was unwilling to accept a new identity and instead thought Harold was uncaring about the company's original values and history and regarded him as an enigma. For Harold to have been effective he should have gained the trust of the employees. However, he failed to do this as gaining trust is being predictable, reliable and implementing the vision of the firm even during uncertainty. Harold was unable to do this as he got the company into a large debt and cash-flow crisis.
4. What would you advise Harold to do differently if he had the chance to return as president of HTE?
I would advise Harold to first observe the behaviours and the work ethic of the employees as well as being aware of the company's original vision and history. This is because the employees felt that Harold was an enigma and either did not care or did not know about the history of the firm. For Harold this will gain him trust, as he will be caring about the firm and the workers and this shows that he is willing to take on the values of the firm. After this, Harold should then apply a shared vision. This is because he will be able to get positive outcomes in the future as well as showing his employees that he listens to them and that their dreams can be realised. Harold should try to be more of a role model by making his employees feel comfortable in the firm, increasing morale and production and encouraging achieving better.
Furthermore, he should try to challenge the process of the firm so that he can make his employees willingly want to change the status quo and step into the unknown. This will make Harold a respected leader as his followers will trust him and his vision by them making them believe he his reliable even in times of uncertainty. In addition, Harold should promote team work and cooperation between the employees. This will inspire employees to make creative decisions, feel good about their work and be able to see that their contribution is making a change in the greater community
