Problem: Alan looked anxiously out of his office window. The sky was very dark over the nearby hills, and the storm seemed to be advancing rapidly toward the valley where his auto repair shop was located. Just to be on the safe side, Alan went out and rolled up the windows of the customer's cars in the parking lot. He noticed the creek was already running high, the result of melting snow during the warm spring days. Before he could get back into the shop, a sudden downpour of huge drops of rain soaked his clothing. Some of the mechanics laughingly teased him for "not having enough sense to come in out of the rain." After 15 minutes of the pelting rain, Alan realized that this was no ordinary rainstorm. He went out to look at the creek again and found that it had already risen to almost the height of its banks. Alan figured it wouldn't be long before the muddy water would flood the parking lot and come swirling around the shop doors. He ran back into the shop and announced in a loud voice that the creek was going to flood. He told three of his mechanics to drop everything and start moving the cars. The cars that were parked next to the creek needed to be driven, pushed, or towed up to the high ground across the road. Alan told the other mechanics to put the tools away and help move all the boxes of parts and supplies off the floor and into the storage racks in the storeroom and the office.
Alan had everybody's attention, but nobody seemed to be moving. If anything the mechanics seemed to be amused. Kirk strolled over to Alan with a tolerant smile on his face. "Come on, Alan," he said. "There's no sweat. The water's never been more than an inch deep in the parking lot. We've never had any inside" Alan interrupted him, looking him right in the eye, and said in an assertive way, "Listen Kirk, and listen good! You and the rest of the crew are going to do what I say, and you're going to do it now! We can talk later about whether it was a good idea." This time, the mechanics dropped everything and began preparing for a flash flood. Alan barked instructions as he helped them move everything that could be damaged by water. All of the boxes were off the floor before the first trickle of water came under the door. By the time the water was ankle-deep, all the cars inside the shop had been jacked up and were sitting on cement blocks. At its peak, the water was 10 inches deep in the shop, but by then the rain had stopped and the sun was already shining.
The water level began to recede slowly, but it didn't drop below the shop-floor level until after 9 p.m. At 10 p.m. the mechanics voluntarily returned to the shop to help with the cleanup, which was not completed until 3 a.m. Alan personally thanked each one and gave them all the next morning off. The next afternoon, Alan gave an informal "speech" during the coffee break. He gave the mechanics all the credit for avoiding thousands of dollars of property damage. He even went to the trouble of pointing out particular contributions each of them had made. For instance, he thanked LaMont for his quick thinking in throwing the master switch before the water reached the electric outlets. He thanked Kirk for the idea of jacking up all the disabled cars inside the shop. And so on until everyone's contribution, no matter how minor, had been recognized. At 5 o'clock, everyone left but Gil, the oldest mechanic. He decided to stay and chat with Alan. "You really surprised us yesterday!" Gil told Alan. "We could hardly believe it was you." "Whaddaya mean?" Alan asked, pretending to be offended. "You sounded like my old drill sergeant!" Gil chuckled. "Usually, you're so mild mannered we forget you're the boss!" "May be I'm a little too mild mannered," Alan replied. "When I told you guys to prepare for the flood you all laughed at me."
Questions: 1. Describe Alan's leadership style during the flood, and evaluate how appropriate it was for the leadership situation.
2. Identify effective behaviors by Alan after the flood subsided.
3. How should Alan behave toward his employees in the future?