Discussion

Information

In the course scenario, this was stated regarding this assignment: In the last employee satisfaction survey, the CEO became aware of growing feelings of mistrust between employees and managers. Hiring practices are also under scrutiny and criticism, because allegations of nepotism have been leveled at the company.

For these reasons and others, employee turnover and absenteeism is on the rise in all four divisions. Staffing problems have made it difficult to meet customer expectations as the demand for company products grows.

So far, you are seeing inconsistencies in leadership practices in each of the departments, and you are concerned that while the company is trying to improve its communication protocol, the different leadership styles may be creating confusion. For example, when you talked to one of the production employees, Sonja Diaz, she explained that she had many ideas for helping to streamline the production process, but feels she cannot share them because of the transactional leadership.

In the marketing department, one sales rep, Jerry McVie, felt that he was not being challenged with his current goals and is even considering leaving the company to join one of the competitors.

Lack of communication between the divisional leaders might also be the cause of conflict between the departments because they operate in silos. This separation between divisions may also be having a negative effect on middle management staffing issues.

Leadership practices at CMA tend to be inconsistent throughout the company. Vice presidents (VPs) of the four divisions have unique ways of leading their employees; their styles resemble four classic leadership types: transactional, transformational, situational, and charismatic.

In addition, staff has observed a lot of conflict between the VPs. You and Jared are meeting now to brainstorm ideas about how to address these issues.

"During my interviews," you say, "I discovered that CMA doesn't have a protocol in place for conflict resolution. I think this is a more serious situation and another opportunity for training and development. The VPs and managers would all benefit from this information."

"Give me something in writing that describes what participants need to know about identifying the different types of conflict and the steps they can take to resolve it. I want to think about this some more."

If there are any questions on any of this, reach out to your instructor and also be sure to attend or listen to the chats as that is where you will be able to ask questions and gain many insights in what is being asked for here.