Southern Cross Enterprise
· Instructions:
Leader vs. Manager Paper
In the past weeks, students have learned about leaders and managers, leaders as social architects, change agents, and individuals with distinct personalities. Using the information learned so far, students will analyze a case study. Students are expected to differentiate between the roles and skillsets of a leader and a manager by creating a leadership plan. In completing the leadership plan, students will address the required elements listed below.
By completing this assignment, student will meet the following outcomes:
o Use leadership theories, assessment tools, and an understanding of the role of ethics, values, and attitudes to evaluate and enhance personal leadership skills
o Evaluate the culture and policies of an organization to recommend and implement improvements that support its vision, success, and sustainability
Required Elements to include in the Leader vs. Manager Paper:
Students will create a leadership plan, writing from a leader perspective. Discuss the following:
o Ted as a social architect - discuss Ted's vision for the organization.
o Ted as an individual - what can he do to enhance his role as leader?
o Ted as a change agent for the corporate environment? What steps should Ted take for short-term change? For long-term change?
o Create a vision statement and a mission statement for the organization?
o How can Ted create an organizational culture that supports his vision?
o Based on your leadership plan, discuss how Ted might integrate the role the managers have to strengthen his vision.
o Students are expected to be creative but realistic in developing the leadership plan using the resources provided. Students may also research beyond the material provided in the course. Please no wiki files.
o Remember, you are writing from the leader's perspective and are not solving problems but working toward developing an environment in which problems will be resolved.
Your plan should consist of the following steps:
1. Evaluate the organization's purpose and goals (is the business non-profit or does it sell widgets) (It is recommended that you create a list of what the company does)
2. Develop vision and mission statements
3. Design an organizational structure (autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire, bureaucratic)
4. Design an organizational culture that complements the organizational structure and organizational goals (market, hierarchical, clan, adhocracy)
5. Assess the environment for change in your plan. Is there a mechanism built in to the organizational structure and culture to facilitate change?
The Case Study you will use to complete the assignment:
Case Study: Southern Cross Enterprise
Southern Cross Enterprise, a family-owned business located in Finger Lakes, New York that manufactures wine bottles, labels, synthetic corks and wine accessories. Ted Baker inherited the role of president from his father ten years ago. He is fifty-five years old and has a younger brother, Jacob, who is Vice President. Ted is a bright, mild mannered man who has spent his life in New York and has seen little of the outside world. His life has been with the factory. He started with the company at the age of five and has spent his adult years running Southern Cross Enterprise. The company hasn't changed significantly since his father's death and Ted has managed to keep things profitable.
Southern Cross employs 125 people full time, including African-Americans, Asians, and Hispanics. Ted knows that 78% of the fulltime work force is female with three percent of the women holding management positions. There are no women in upper management. There are six lower level management departments. Three are held by white males, one by a black male, one and Asian male and one by a Asian woman. There are seven middle management positions all held by males with exception of two that are white females. The shipping department is predominantly black with eight of the 10 workers being black males. The receiving department is made up exclusively of Hispanic workers with a similar eight of 10 employees being male. During peak production are summer to fall, which means Southern Cross adds approximately 60% part-time workers, most of whom are minorities and women.
Orders for bottles, corks and labels are processed in batch runs with specifications for bottles and labels custom-ordered. In a period of a week, approximately 100 different orders are filled requiring different label stocks, screw caps, and synthetic corks. These orders vary greatly in size so Southern Cross has a long-term policy of giving priority to high-volume customers and processing secondary orders on a first-come first-served basis. Ten of the company's major customers started doing business with Southern Cross more than 30 years when Ted Baker's father was at the helm. Since that time business has changed significantly especially with the production of synthetic corks.
Ted walks out of his office that overlooks the main bottling production floor. Dave Edwards, labeling production manager, is walking a group of high-school student on a field trip through the production floor. Dave points out the production areas responsible for each of the various steps in the manufacture of custom labels, from purchasing to printing to quality control and shipping. The plant is clean, but the two large printing rooms, each the workplace for 30 workers, are quite noisy. Workers are busy but converse in various languages and seem to enjoy their jobs from the laughter that Ted hears. Ted hurries down the stairs and follows the group of students as they move to the shipping and receiving department. One of the students leans over to his friend making a comment about the large number of African-Americans that work in the department. In fact, 8 of the 10 workers in the department are African-American males, and that their boss, James Porter, is also African-American. Ted overhears the student's comment.
Ted realizes that he has to leave to make the weekly meeting of top management. The first item on the agenda is a discussion of organizational culture. Several of Ted's managers have expressed concerns about potential racial problems in the company. One observation is that each of the minority groups sticks together. The African-Americans, Asians, and Hispanics rarely mix. Recently, there has been a problem with theft of finished product, especially on the late shift. Yesterday, a Asian worker was fired for theft. Ted is concerned since he wants a harmonious, diverse workforce. As a result, Ted has been reading about diversity, motivation, and change. Ted mentions to his managers that he is interested in them helping address the issues the company is experiencing. Several managers nod their heads in agreement.
Ted moves to the next agenda item, daily business. The others present are the general manager, personnel manager (the only woman), sales manager, quality control manager, senior production manager (Johnson), and the shipping and receiving manager (the only non-white male). Soon an angry debate ensues between the sales and shipping/receiving managers. It seems that orders are not being shipped quickly enough, according to the sales manager, and several complaints have been received from smaller customers about the quality of the synthetic corks. The shipping/receiving manager argues that he needs more hands to do the job, and that the quality of incoming supplies is lousy. While this debate continues, the other managers are silent and seemingly uncomfortable. Finally, one of the other men laughs loudly, and the conversation shifts to other topics.