ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP: Crisis Leadership Report
*Before accepting the assignment please read all. The paper needs to be at
least 7 pages long not including the cover and reference page. Only the
sources attached can be used as references. The paper needs to have at
least 10 in text citations. You must answer all of the questions covered in
the * *Roman Numeral section. You must write the assignment covering all
points in the grading rubric that is attached. You must be willing to make
corrections if needed. *
Purpose:
The purpose of this project is to apply leadership concepts to a crisis
leadership situation and to make recommendations for a crisis-ready culture.
The key to doing well in this assignment is to use course materials from
all seven weeks. While there is a focus on Week 7 content, students are
expected to apply the concepts learned from weeks 1 through 6 as well.
Moreover, students are expected to apply examples from the case scenario to
concepts learned from the course materials. Students will not need to use
course materials outside of those provided in this classroom, so use of any
other course materials should be highly discouraged.
*A Snapshot of the Case and the Underlying Issues:*
This case focuses on a crisis that was created because of poor leadership
decisions and behaviors. The decisions made by Higgins created the problem,
but at the core of this problem was the poor leadership of Brown. Higgins
made a decision to purchase genetically modified Echinacea for short-term
gain. She made this decision without consulting with anyone. But the crisis
could have been prevented by Brown. Brown demonstrated:
- the wrong leadership style in giving Higgins free rein
- low emotional intelligence by not demonstrating control of his
emotions and not managing conflict well
- that he was not an Authentic leader, in that he didn’t clearly
communicate the values most important to him and to Biotech (the core
values). Knowing that the core values would have possibly allowed
Higgins to reframe her decision making (in other words she would have
understood sustainability and customer-centricity come before short term
profits). Moreover, Brown did not take ownership of the problem – another
sign of an unauthentic leader.
Finally, this case demonstrates what can happen when culture, structure,
and strategy do not align. After working through these leadership issues,
students will provide recommendations to make Biotech crisis-ready.
Skill Building:
You are also completing this project to help you develop the skills of
analysis, critical thinking, and writing a report. Writing is critical
because in business it is important to convey information clearly and
concisely and to develop a personal brand. Developing a personal brand is
important because it is the ongoing process of establishing an image or
impression in the minds of others especially those in positions above you.
Having a strong personal brand can lead to opportunities that include
promotions.
Skills: Writing, Critical Thinking, Developing a Personal Brand,
Situational Analysis, Writing a Report.
Outcomes Met With This Project:
- use leadership theories, assessment tools, and an understanding of the
role of ethics, emotional intelligence, cultural intelligence,
competencies, values, and attitudes to evaluate and enhance personal
leadership skills
- assess the interactions between the external environment and within an
organization to foster responsible and effective leadership and
organizational practices
- Develop individual awareness, style and communication skills that
enhance leadership skills
- Integrate and apply analytical principles and concepts of leadership
to make strategic decisions.
Instructions:
Step 1: The Scenario
*Read the Case Scenario that follows and answer Mr. Barney’s questions in
the form of a report.* Address the report to Mr. Barney.
You walk into your office one morning and see an article on your desk. You
pick it up and realize that Mr. Barney, the CEO, placed it there! He also
has some questions on a post-it note and a request for recommendations.
Max Barney was exhausted. He had just finished a long meeting with his
current VP of Headquarter Operations, Michael Brown. Michael, who was
himself getting ready for retirement, was giving Barney a rundown of a
recent crisis that impacted the company. While the dust seemed to be
settling, Barney recognized that this was one of the worst things to ever
happen to his company.
Michael recalls the crisis in the following way:
“On the morning of January 19th, I got a call from Joanne Edwards, my
contact at our major distributor, Happy and Healthy Foodmart. She told me
that three of her customers had complained that Biotech’s echinacea had
made them ill. I called our legal department immediately to put them on
alert. By noon that day, the number of reported illnesses had risen to
seven. By January 22nd, the worst possible news came in – one of those
people had actually died.
I called my team together immediately to come up with a plan for an
immediate Recall. We needed to manage this crisis with our employees, our
distributors, and most of all our customers. Controlling the message to
the public and the media was critical. We’d had Recalls before, but never
in reaction to a customer death. This was a whole new ball game for us.
Once the Recall had been put in place, we needed to get to the bottom of
the echinacea problem. We started looking at the suppliers and ended up in
the Purchasing Department. When we discovered that Henrietta Higgins, the
Assistant Director of Purchasing, had cut a deal with a new supplier I
became furious, Max. I mean, it was not one of my proudest moments.”
“That’s understandable,” replied Max, “go on. Tell me more.”
“Well, Higgins received an offer from a new supplier to buy genetically
modified echinacea. She explained that she thought it was a good move
because it would save the company over 20% on the wholesale price. She
made the decision unilaterally, Max, without every going to her supervisor
or to me to discuss it.”
“What did you do when you found this out?” asked Max.
“I fired her, of course. We had no other choice, Max. It’s because of her
we have this crisis. And on top of that, we’ve decided to halt all sales of
all echinacea in the foreseeable future.”
“Who’s we?” Max asked, with concern in his voice now.
“My team, of course. I told my managers about my decision and they’re all
behind me 100%. We all know how important it is to act quickly in this
situation, Max. You can trust me to turn this situation around.”
Max left the meeting sure about two things. First, he was secretly relieved
that Michael was nearing retirement. The new VP of Headquarter Operations
could start fresh. Second, he had just finished reading an article about a
“Crisis Ready Culture”. He knew that it was time for Biotech to start
developing a crisis-ready culture.
Max drops by your office with a copy of that article. He has a post-it note
on the article, with the following questions and a request for
recommendations:
1. What Leadership Styles were used in the recent echinacea crisis?
Discuss the leadership style of every person involved.
2. What Leadership Styles would be most beneficial in a crisis-ready
culture?
3. What leadership competencies were evident in the recent echinacea
crisis? Discuss the leadership competencies of every person involved.
4. What leadership competencies would be most needed in a crisis-ready
culture?
5. What role did Emotional Intelligence (or lack of Emotional
Intelligence) play in the echinacea crisis?
6. What role would Emotional Intelligence play in a crisis-ready culture?
7. What role did Authentic Leadership (or lack of it) play in the
Echinacea crisis?
8. What role would Authentic Leadership play in a crisis-ready culture?
9. What role (if any) did Biotech’s current culture play in the
Echinacea crisis?
10. How can Biotech align its current strategy, culture and
organizational structure to develop a crisis-ready culture?
11. Give three specific and actionable recommendations that could be
implemented to develop acrisis-ready culture for Biotech. (Each
recommendation should be supported by course materials).
Step 2. The Questions to Answer
You will answer the 11 questions above provided in Step 1.
Step 3. Write the Report.
*Report Format*:
Create a Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) report should be no more than seven
(7) pages double-spaced, Times New Roman-12 points font. Those five pages
do not include the*required* Title Page, Reference Page and Appendix. You
will use the following format.
The report should use Roman Numeral numbering for each section and answer
each of Mr. Barney’s questions, as follows:
1. The Leadership Styles demonstrated in the recent echinacea crisis.
Provide evidence for your claims from the case scenario and support your
claim with course material.
2. The Leadership Styles that would be most beneficial in a crisis-ready
culture. Support your reasoning with course materials.
3. The leadership competencies that were evident in the recent echinacea
crisis. Provide evidence for your claims from the case scenario and support
your claim with course materials.
4. The leadership competencies that would be most needed in a
crisis-ready culture. Support your reasoning and conclusions with course
materials.
5. The role that Emotional Intelligence (or lack of Emotional
Intelligence) played in the echinacea crisis. Provide evidence for your
claims from the case scenario and support your claim with course materials.
6. The role that E.Q. would play in a crisis-ready culture. Support
your reasoning and conclusions with course materials.
7. The role that Authentic Leadership (or lack of it ) played in the
Echinacea crisis. Provide evidence for your claims from the case scenario
and support your claim with course materials.
8. The role that Authentic Leadership would play in a crisis-ready
culture. Support your reasoning and conclusions with course materials.
9. The role (if any) that Biotech’s current culture played in the
Echinacea crisis. Provide evidence for your claims from the case scenario
and Biotech Company Profile and support your claim with course materials.
10. How Biotech can align its current strategy, culture and
organizational structure to develop this crisis-ready culture. Support
your analysis with course materials.
11. Three specific and actionable recommendations that Biotech
leadership could implement to develop this crisis-ready culture. (Each
recommendation should be supported by course materials). Make sure these
three recommendations are actionable (in other words, leadership can take
your advice and put it into practice immediately) and specific (in other
words, not too general that it cannot be easily understood). For example,
“change leadership style” is not actionable today, and too general to be
clearly understood. However, “train leaders on different leadership
styles” can be put into practice today and is specific enough to be
understood. (Do not use this example in your answer!).
12. Reference Page – provide references to match your in-text citations,
written in APA format.
Step 4. Submit the Completed Report in the Assignment Folder.
Submitting the project to the Assignment Folder is considered the student's
final product and therefore ready for grading by the instructor. It is
incumbent upon the student to verify the assignment is t
GeneralEssayUndergraduate
Need this done?
Similar assignment?
Get it done by a vetted professional writer in as little as 1 hour.