A Discussion on Influence Processes
You have been encouraged by a colleague to write a brief article about “upper-echelon leaders” for a management journal. You have decided to compare the leadership styles of three leaders: Stanley Wang, Leslie Marks, and Joseph Hadad. (Read the content below to act as source material for these three individuals)
Brain Toys Executives:
Stanley Wang, the CEO of Brain Toys, joined the organization a few years before the founder, J. C. Green, decided to retire. It became clear early on that Stanley was destined to rise fast. With a B.S. degree in engineering and graphic design, an MBA, and several years of experience in computer software design, he fit right in the Brain Toys culture. He was bright, witty, analytical, and competitive. J. C. took a liking to him and put him in charge of several high-visibility projects with potential for high impact and big budgets. Stanley performed every time. Within the first two years, Stanley won all the internal awards that Brain Toys gives its managers. Several of his peers maliciously credited Stanley’s love of running rather than his technical and managerial competence as the cause of his success. Stanley ran with the boss every day before work and they trained for many races together.
The Soft-Touch Leader:
Leslie Marks was proud of her accomplishment as one of the few executives in the male-dominated information technology field. As the president of Uniform Data Link, she describes herself as a “soft-touch” leader. “I just don’t believe in heavy-handed leadership. People have to be able to express themselves and that is when you get the best out of them. Our best ideas come from all levels.” She keeps an open door for all employees and has moved her office from the third floor to the first. She often comes to work in jeans and spends a lot of time with the engineers brainstorming on technical problems. She changed many of the evaluation and promotion procedures and asked several less educated but highly experienced employees to work with her on important projects.
The Hospital Economist:
Joseph Hadad graduated with a doctorate in economics and health care administration from a major southwestern university and after many years of work in various health care organizations, Hadad was named as the top administrator of a major Phoenix hospital. As an economist and a strong believer in fair pay, Hadad focused much time with the human resource managers, revamping the hospital’s compensation and benefit plan. The old system based on seniority was all but dismantled and replaced with a pay-for-performance system that ties the pay of all employees, including the physicians, partially to the hospital’s financial performance. The plan allows for some flexibility for two years, whereby employees are not penalized for poor performance, but only rewarded for good financial health. After two years, they shared in the good and the bad. Most of the hospital’s employees complain that Hadad seemed to care about nothing else. Many also note a major change in everybody’s behavior.
In your article, provide the following:
1. An introduction to the concept of influence processes.
2. A summary of the various types of influence processes and the factors that can affect them.
3. An analysis of the processes used by the three leaders: Stanley Wang, Leslie Marks, and Joseph Hadad. Identify the processes that the leaders and the top management team (TMT) are using to impact the organization. Use the table below to organize your answers.
Table Format:
Influence Method Stanley Wang Leslie Marks Joseph Hadad
Direct decisions
Allocation of resources
Reward system
Selection and promotion of other leaders
Role modeling
